What are your thoughts on Spokeo? So much for online privacy...

[Äߧý∩†H♠H䎀]

Either I'm to busy or in the dark these days, but a coworker sent me a link to Spokeo People Search | White Pages | Find People the other day and I was somewhat shocked at the information available.

I started to do some searching and it's amazing what you can find out about people just by entering their names. I found it somewhat disturbing that after entering names I could see my friends home values and detailed pictures of the area etc. I'm sure there is a lot more information available if you pay, but I was just using the basic free version.

Of course not all the information is accurate, but I'm still kind of shocked that it's so readily available.

So, my question is do you think a site like this is over stepping the boundaries of privacy on the internet?

[superman22x]

Wow, there is quite a bit of info there... Weird.

[foothead]

I entered my dad's name. How the hell....? My dad doesn't even use the internet, so they definitely acquired this some other way. The most terrifying part was that it accurately guessed obscure interests. Example: "travel cooking" (we go camping). How could they possibly know that?

[superman22x]

I thought I was married and in my 50s though. So it's not too accurate, haha.

[FlightSimBoy]

Doesn't know my age, says I'm married. Says the home I *used* to live in is valued at 400,000 dollars... I rented it for 400 dollars a month and it was recently sold for 35,000.... It knows my mother's name.

Crazy stuff....

It doesn't know basic stats on my mom's boyfriend, BUT it knows he likes football, plays sports, has children, has owned cats and dogs, works on and likes cars, and has invested in the stock market... I don't get how this information comes up like that....

[detox]

must be a U.S. thing, It doesn't find anyone I search for.

[jmacavali]

Weird that it's accurate to a point, but it's not that crazy really. The County Auditor's website will give info about the house. And a census will give you the age/family info.

[root]

Originally Posted by jmacavali

Weird that it's accurate to a point, but it's not that crazy really. The County Auditor's website will give info about the house. And a census will give you the age/family info.

bingo!

This site is nothing more than a mash up of census records, rightmove type sites that list house prices, and the phone book (192.com) etc...

since it's got no UK names I searched for one of my aunts.
if I search by her maiden name I get her old addresses, and her old age.
search with her married name and she's suddenly ten years older and living in a new place

in the UK if you look on 192.com you can find some interesting details.
even googling for your address can turn up interesting records of who has lived there in the past (which as far as these data scanning companies think) are still people who live there now.

Quite why anyone expects privacy when you're required by law to fill out a census which will then be publicly available is more strange.
(I've just had a quick look and 192 now blank the names unless you're a paid up member)

[clacker]

There were no results for me, should I be worried??

[Legodude522]

Weird, I put in my email and it comes up as some other guy in another state with a different name but my pictures.