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trillionaire

trillionaire

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
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3,881
Has anyone heard of the website Spokeo.com ????

Enter your name, and see all of the detailed information that they have one you and your family members.

How do we protect ourselves from these kind of datamining sites???


You can remove your listing from Spokeo.com by clicking Here.
 
Interesting. When I put in my name, I got a bunch of outdated or totally inaccurate information.
 
123people.com

pipl.com

These types of sites are all over
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Date: 3/30/2010 3:27:48 PM
Author: kittybean
Interesting. When I put in my name, I got a bunch of outdated or totally inaccurate information.
Click to expand...
I got a combination of correct/incorrect information as well, but they did list my entire family and a lot of details.

Also, apparently I am now Caucasian with kids.
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I know. This type of thing should be illegal. My identity was stolen before, it''s a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. I''m sick of my info just floating around out there.
 
I also don''t like the whole Google maps street-view thing. I think that''s super creepy
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Bwahahaha - it says my house is worth 1 million +. Fail!
 
I''m on there, but only under my maiden name.

It has a lot of interestingly inaccurate information. According to that site, I am single (try married); in my mid twenties (nope, 29); I don''t own my home (false) yet I''ve lived here for 17 years (nope, 2) and it''s worth 1M+ (SOOO wrong); I have a high school education (plus two master''s degrees); and I have children (not that I know of.)

The scary thing is that under interests it has a lot of accurate information. I don''t like this site at all. Thank you for the link to remove my info, trill.
 
There are only three people with my maiden name and I actually used to work with one of them. Haha.

I'm not surprised though. I mean, you can find me in the local phone book (I've checked, while my bunny was in the process of chewing up said phone book
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) so it's not a stretch that you can find the same info on an internet phone book.

Much of the info is totally incorrect (such as occupation, home value, and education). The phone number is my old home phone, which we no longer have, so I'm assuming they just got this info from Comcast, just like the phone book does. Oh, and it lists my street, but not the street number.

Overall, not that worried!

eta: Monkeypie, my $300k (max) townhouse is also listed at $1M+. I guess they just assume I live in a rich area, so my house is worth a lot??
 
Nothing on me either under my maiden or married name in Spokeo.

123people and pipl have nothing on me under my maiden name, but I do get 2-3 things come up for my married name but all are related to my employer''s website and show my coworkers pictures rather than mine - weird!

Nothing about family members, private details or anything else!
 
Apparently I am single, have children, am not interested in politics, and am a Pisces. All that is news to me...

But the kicker is that I just tried to remove my listing and got the following message:
"In order to prevent abuse, we must limit the frequency of privacy requests. Please try again tomorrow.
Government officials please use your @.gov email address for priority processing."
That''s such BS! Grrr!
 
I don''t exist on there by either name.
 
I got a combo of correct and incorrect info. I wasn''t aware that I had dogs and like cigars and play hockey (lol). I definitely own my home but have not lived here for the length they list.


Thanks for the removal link. This is just creepy. I''m not a member of any social networking sites and don''t put out this info. I really don''t know how they get their version of my life.
 
Wow! Thanks for the removal link. I like to think that people will not use these sites, but they have to exist for a reason. I also suggest creating a one-time use e-mail when removing your information. With a site like this, it made me unwilling to use a real e-mail.
 
Haha... my dad has no children (try three) and he apparantly collects dolls!!!

It only has stuff under my maiden name, and a lot of it is inaccurate. Unfortunately, my house isn't worth $1M+ either
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ETA: Thanks for the removal link. I just removed my listing.
 
Ok, I''m on there. I''m laughing my butt off. It says that I''m a parent, I own my own home, that I work in clerical.. (absolutely not), and that my house is worth 1M. According to this site, I own my parents home. They got the pool right, but they also have 2 fireplaces and they list none. They also list my 23 yo brother as 50 and a parent (he''s def not). My other brother apparently is in a relationship and makes $60k a year... he''s 17.. lol

They do have my zodiac sign right It also says that I: love reading (yes), have children (no), enjoys family activities, owns pets, owns dogs, is self-driven (WHY is this on there?), donates to causes, subscribes to magazines, has elderly parents (theyre early- mid 50''s), enjoys gardening (no), owns cats, has a swimming pool, is not interested in politics.. (how do they know that?)
 
Thanks for the removal link! It didn''t know much about me- just my address from several years ago, my sex, and my sign.

Oh, and it lists my Dad as female.
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Date: 3/30/2010 3:22:33 PM
Author:trillionaire

Has anyone heard of the website Spokeo.com ????

Enter your name, and see all of the detailed information that they have one you and your family members.

How do we protect ourselves from these kind of datamining sites???

You can remove your listing from Spokeo.com by clicking Here.
Click to expand...

Am I the only one who is suspicious that spokeo.com asks for more data (one's e-mail address) in order to remove the data about him from their website? It isn't worth it to me to give them more information about
me to get them to remove the information that they have gathered thus far!

AGBF
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OK, I wasn''t listed at all, and I checked both my current name and my maiden name. DH was listed, but most of his info was wrong. It even said that he''s still married to his XW, and they divorced over five years ago!
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I did remove his listing. Deb, I was also bothered that they asked for an e-mail address, but supposedly it''s just so that they can e-mail you an authentication link (which they did). After I removed DH''s listing, I did another search for him right away, and sure enough he wasn''t on there anymore!
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There''s only one person on there with my name, and it''s not me!
 
That is scary. Says my house is worth twice as much as it is but has no heat or AC. My zodiac sign and occupation is wrong. I wonder how much info they would give if you bought a membership.
 
I tried and the website was temporarily down. A sister link offered me all the info for 1.99. Which is a significant dumping in prices, since Intellius and the likes offered the same info for 19.99. This being said, their info. about the market value of my house is much more accurate.
 
trill, thanks for posting this. Everyone in my house was listed. Also my mother, who does not live with us, but does have my address for her mail as I do all her paperwork. They list this house at 800,000-1M. So not close. And yet, this expensive home is in a below average neighborhood.
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They also have her in her late 80's, (not quite yet), but loves sports.....


Anyway, thanks for the heads up. I'm deleting all of us.
 
those who sent a delete request did it work?
 
Date: 4/1/2010 9:56:57 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring
those who sent a delete request did it work?
Click to expand...
Yeah.

That is the only site that allows removal of info. The others do not.
 
OK, my fiance has these things listed (follow me here):

-Plays sports
-Loves to travel
-subscribes to magazines
-enjoys gardening
-enjoys food and wine
-is self-driven
-enjoys fitness
-loves reading
-cares about healthy living
-enjoys home decoration
-researches investments
-is not interested in politics

How could these be explained? Well....

-Plays sports (had gym membership, used to play in HS too)
-Loves to travel (used to travel for work a lot, but we have paid for airfare with a CC too)
-subscribes to magazines (yes)
-enjoys gardening (we''ve had contractors out to redo things-- permits?)
-enjoys food and wine (the area we live in- a given? lots of wine/ food places near us)
-is self-driven (no idea- maybe because of being a home owner?)
-enjoys fitness (again, gym membership)
-loves reading (he has a billion books- has a book membership thingy)
-cares about healthy living (gym membership- again)
-enjoys home decoration (contractors, again.. permits?)
-researches investments (has a lot of investments)
-is not interested in politics (he absolutely IS, but this is the only one I can''t explain or reason with)

So I''m thinking that most of these could be found in public records and that the website pulls their own conclusions from it. Oh, they had a permit to do stuff in the backyard-- blah blah- they must like to garden! He has a gym membership- so he must love sports and staying healthy......

Anyone follow me here?

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that kind of makes sense swedish bean.. I''m nervous to even go to the site.. not sure I trust that they remove it - but perhaps I"m paranoid :)
 
Huh....well apparently I have children and work in clerical services. lol.
 
Date: 4/1/2010 2:57:08 PM
Author: swedish bean
OK, my fiance has these things listed (follow me here):

-Plays sports
-Loves to travel
-subscribes to magazines
-enjoys gardening
-enjoys food and wine
-is self-driven
-enjoys fitness
-loves reading
-cares about healthy living
-enjoys home decoration
-researches investments
-is not interested in politics

How could these be explained? Well....

-Plays sports (had gym membership, used to play in HS too)
-Loves to travel (used to travel for work a lot, but we have paid for airfare with a CC too)
-subscribes to magazines (yes)
-enjoys gardening (we''ve had contractors out to redo things-- permits?)
-enjoys food and wine (the area we live in- a given? lots of wine/ food places near us)
-is self-driven (no idea- maybe because of being a home owner?)
-enjoys fitness (again, gym membership)
-loves reading (he has a billion books- has a book membership thingy)
-cares about healthy living (gym membership- again)
-enjoys home decoration (contractors, again.. permits?)
-researches investments (has a lot of investments)
-is not interested in politics (he absolutely IS, but this is the only one I can''t explain or reason with)

So I''m thinking that most of these could be found in public records and that the website pulls their own conclusions from it. Oh, they had a permit to do stuff in the backyard-- blah blah- they must like to garden! He has a gym membership- so he must love sports and staying healthy......

Anyone follow me here?

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Click to expand...
The site gets information from where you used your email address. If you bought a book on Amazon about health and fitness and used your email address as a contact and it is associated with your real name...there you go. I always use a gmail address with a generic fake name when buying online.

Ever taken a survey online and used your email address? Same thing. All these companies share leads and information. It''s marketing 101.

Is anyone else super uncomfortable about having to use a membership/discount card EVERYWHERE to get the sale prices when you shop? CVS, grocery stores, etc. I hate that and most of the time I refuse to use a card at the supermarket. I don''t really need big brother to know how often I shop, where I''m from, how much I spend, what exactly I buy, etc. Nunyo business.

The other sites like yellowpages.com or Pipl or Anywho just have information based on what would be in a phone book. If you''re one of those who likes to be unlisted then just request to be taken off those sites. I use those all the time to get phone numbers for clients who have been assigned to our agency by one of the ginormous carriers we use. People move, never update their information with home office, and then by the time I call them they act upset that they haven''t heard from anyone for so long.
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Well, either you want to be found or you don''t. Ya can''t have it both ways!
 
This thread is timely! I just read a news story about it. There is actually a big, broad-coalition push right now to get Congress to modernize digital privacy laws. The primary law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, hasn't been updated since 1986--before the Internet as we know it today even existed, and before most people had cell phones. http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/04/02/former-doj-lawyers-say-electronic-privacy-law-outdated/
 
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