IMPORTANT - and a bit scary too

[kat569]

Guys and gals, a friend of mine posted this on Facebook tonight:

"There's a site called Spokeo.com that's a new online USA phone book w/personal information: everything from pics you've posted on FB or web, your approx credit score, home value, income, age, even credit card #'s. Remove yourself by searching your name, find your page, copy the URL and then go to the bottom of the page and click on the Privacy link to remove yourself. Copy & re-post so your FB friends are aware!"

I'd forgotten all about this site; a couple of years ago I'd requested that they remove numerous listings for several family members (including several of my own). Tonight I looked - and some of those listings were BACK on the site. Not only that, but I found - in direct violation of Spokeo's own privacy policy - that they had published my UNDERAGE NIECE'S information, including her CURRENT ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER.

I sent them a not-very-nice email, primarily to get them to remove my niece's listing, but also to have them remove the remainder of the listings which I was unable to remove (they only allow a few requests per day, apparently by IP address instead of email address). I'll post the email in a moment so you can read it. But I highly suggest you all go and see what information they have on you and your family! Especially your children!

Incidentally, at least one of my own listings was not any information I'd ever used anywhere online, but was only accessible via my credit report. I'm really tempted to talk to my brother-in-law, who is a well-known and highly successful attorney...

[kat569]

My email to Spokeo.com:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to inform you that, in direct violation of your own published Privacy Policy, you have listed the personally identifying information of a minor under the age of 18. I hereby request that you IMMEDIATELY remove her listing from your site, and that you refrain from relisting it at any future point. Should I find her information back on your site, rest assured that I can and WILL be alerting her father, who happens to be an attorney - and I'm sure he will have a field day with this. The link to her information is:

(site removed for safety reasons)

I question the legality of the information you have published on your site. I have found several older listings of my own, which in some cases were ONLY available on my credit report and not on any public forum or website. I believe that it is a violation of Federal law to publish anything from someone's credit report without their knowledge and consent. Additionally, this is the second time in as many years that I have requested the removal of a couple of the listings, only to find them back up on your site. I will now be keeping detailed records of exactly what I've found, when I've requested removal, and when I have found them back up on the site. Should the behavior continue, I will have no choice but to seek legal recourse to prevent you from using that data in the future. I suggest STRONGLY that you review your procedures as it regards personally identifying information and how it is obtained.

Finally, I respectfully request that you remove the following links from your site IMMEDIATELY. They are for either myself or for members of my family (one of whom has Alzheimers and is unable to make the request on his own). Your policy of only allowing a certain number of requests is ridiculous, because I have heard from many people that they have numerous listings on your site and are unable to remove them promptly. The links to the other profiles are:

(sites removed for safety reasons)

Thank you for your time and cooperation in this matter. I will be following up within the next 48 hours to ensure that ALL sites have been removed; both the ones I have requested and the ones listed in this email.

Regards,
Lisa Wells
lisakwells@aol.com

[Biker Dash]

Holy hell... Thank you Kat for posting this here. I think that it's vital that the word gets out.They may have opened themselves up to a sizable suit, and considering how much of an issue privacy and identity theft we have today, I would not be surprized for the judge to place some severe penalties against this company.

I will be checking to make sure that any and all info of mine is removed.

Thank you again.

EDIT:
Revoved, and I WILL be checking regularly...

[calebh]

curious. apparently i earn $326,000 a year. lol

my brother isn't listed (he is a minor), and i don't see any info that isn't publicly available or guessed from demographic information (like my "income.")

just because you don't use your address online doesn't mean it's not available on tax records, deed records, vehicle records, etc, and most of that can be found at your county's offices. more and more of those are getting scanned and posted online

if it was illegal to collect and display public info, they'd have been shut down by now. as far as i can tell, the info they're showing has always been publicly available, the internet is just making it easier to collect it.

[Biker Dash]

I was listed at $124,000...
Maybe thats my net worth lol
IDK...

[calebh]

oh. and i'll add if someone really wants all your info, there's a decent chance your identity is up for grabs on the black market for about $15.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Whats-Your...ket&id=1498714

[Badlands-4-2]

Yes, my wife saw that same thing on Facebook, and we removed or listing from the site. I was worth around 250,000 per year according to them. If that were true, I would have even more bikes in the garage, and a larger garage too.

[Stainlesstehle]

I saw this about a month ago, the information is so far out of whak I'm not going to worry about it.
I never made anywhere near 150K a year, the address is about 6 years ago. and I have 4 children-not 1. The real info is out there if anyone really wants it, they'll get it. I can promise you that nobody is going to get a credit card in my name, or anything else for that matter.

[porange]

So according to Spokeo, I don't exist and my father is a female. Great work, Internet!

I'm pretty sure these sites just aggregates any info they can find floating out there. Facebook, Myspace, unprotected website you log into, etc.. Like others have said, most of the information is incorrect anyway

[Tdubb]

Theres a lot of sites like that. Recordsarea.com will even give your criminal records too.

[Biker Dash]

Originally Posted by porange

So according to Spokeo, I don't exist and my father is a female. Great work, Internet!

Wait... wut? o_O

Are you sure you didn't end up on the US Census Bureau's page?

[Biker Dash]

Originally Posted by Tdubb

Theres a lot of sites like that. Recordsarea.com will even give your criminal records too.

Rex's speeding ticket count just crashed their servers, so dont worry...

[kat569]

True that most info is outdated; but one, current info can be obtained if one has the outdated info; and two, some of the info is NOT outdated, as is the case with my niece's listing. My UNDERAGE niece. I'm not very happy about that at all. I just think it's important that we are aware of what info is out there on us, and to act accordingly depending on our own personal online security preferences (for me, that was to remove ALL listings from that stupid site).

And one of the listings on me was never online in any way, or used for anything - it was only on one of my credit reports (I know because of a misspelling). Wonder how they got THAT info...

Incidentally, I'm being told by another mom here that there is a class-action lawsuit against Spokeo for their publication of this information. I'm off to investigate it, and to see if I'd be eligible to join in on it. I'll post here if and when I find anything out.

[Biker Dash]

DEFINATELY keep me posted.... this might just finance a new computer or maybe even a brand spankin new RS

[calebh]

Originally Posted by kat569

And one of the listings on me was never online in any way, or used for anything - it was only on one of my credit reports (I know because of a misspelling). Wonder how they got THAT info...

somewhere like this?
http://publicrecords.onlinesearches....thCarolina.htm

i bet you an ecookie you can find yourself and that address.

addresses on credit reports come from other records, some of which ARE publicly available to anyone.

Originally Posted by me

just because you don't use your address online doesn't mean it's not available on tax records, deed records, vehicle records, etc, and most of that can be found at your county's offices. more and more of those are getting scanned and posted online

[kat569]

Originally Posted by calebh

somewhere like this?
http://publicrecords.onlinesearches....thCarolina.htm

i bet you an ecookie you can find yourself and that address.

addresses on credit reports come from other records, some of which ARE publicly available to anyone.

Well according to that site, I'm dead... so let them keep thinking that...

[calebh]

seriously? lol guess i owe you an ecookie

i found the value of my parent's home on the texas version. i didn't even know what it was worth...

[kat569]

I haven't dug much into the home values, but I'm betting those are way out in left field somewhere...maybe on an entirely different field, at that... LOL But what do I know, I'm dead...

[Biker Dash]

Your dead Kat? Does that mean I finally get the Ninja?

[kat569]

Originally Posted by Animedevildog

Your dead Kat? Does that mean I finally get the Ninja?

Well, according to those sites, I don't OWN a Ninja... so I guess not... LOL

[robow]

The only instance of me there is in an apartment I lived in 7 years ago, and it has the value at 99k dollars.

[kat569]

Originally Posted by Animedevildog

Your dead Kat? Does that mean I finally get the Ninja?

You could just buy this one:

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/mcy/2126266986.html

[Biker Dash]

Wish I could go get it lol

[kat569]

If I didn't think I'd become ditch-bait for a tractor-trailer, I'd ride it up there for ya...

[Archangel]

Typed my info in nothing came up in any form of my name.

I typed my wifes in and up she came so Well I removed my wife's info Mine did not come up tell I did a search for her then Mine came up after I tryed again so I remove it. Looks like face book strikes again.

[Biker Dash]

Originally Posted by kat569

If I didn't think I'd become ditch-bait for a tractor-trailer, I'd ride it up there for ya...

I ride the interstate all the time lol
It's not all the Semis that worry me, it's all the people who dont pay attention!

[kat569]

Originally Posted by Animedevildog

I ride the interstate all the time lol
It's not all the Semis that worry me, it's all the people who dont pay attention!

When I took the Ninja up to Lincolnton on 321, two semis went barreling past me - I was doing 70 and thought my teeth were going to rattle right out of my head, or the bike was going to blow apart. It was NOT a fun experience. Personally I prefer driving around the semis when I'm on the road in my truck; it's all the four-wheelers that skeeve me out. We've got some lady around here that goes past the middle/high school about the same time I'm leaving there in the morning, and she actually brushes her teeth while driving. Now I'm all for dental hygiene, but come on already...

[Biker Dash]

Originally Posted by kat569

and she actually brushes her teeth while driving

o_O
ok.... thats a new one
I have seen shaving, reading, texting, and blowjobs before while driving, but not this one

[Schneiderman]

Thanks, I found two listings for myself and had them removed. Interesting, according to the website, I'm married! I wonder to who? (is she hot?)

[Buffalo Rider]

I apparently live in a "5-10 unit single family home"??? They also have a phone number from three houses ago at my current residence, my ex-wife is now my mother and I've become the father of my step-kids, my income is reported to be about $34k but my multi-unit single family home is worth $600k (no wonder the banks collapsed). This is kind of funny, I'd like to see someone try and steal my identity with this kind of information!

[kat569]

Originally Posted by Buffalo Rider

I apparently live in a "5-10 unit single family home"??? They also have a phone number from three houses ago at my current residence, my ex-wife is now my mother and I've become the father of my step-kids, my income is reported to be about $34k but my multi-unit single family home is worth $600k (no wonder the banks collapsed). This is kind of funny, I'd like to see someone try and steal my identity with this kind of information!

Hey, at least YOU aren't dead... LOL

[Biker Dash]

Originally Posted by Schneiderman

I'm married! I wonder to who? (is she hot?)

Been to Vegas lately?

[Cie]

I was working on a temporary job recently and the bosses instructed us to use Spokeo, Anywho, local on-line real estate records, GIS maps, etc., etc. Gave me the heebie-jeebies ... at least they instructed us not to ever email PII or use that over the phone to other employees.

Just be safe and be pro-active.

[kat569]

I don't know why any job would have you use Spokeo, not as unreliable and outdated as its data has proven to be. LOL

[Hawkeye]

Katz, spokeo is about 2 years old and most of the information on there is incorrect (they do get stuff correct every now and then) but it is really easy to request to be taken off, and they do it promptly.

don't know why it is such a big deal all of a sudden. It is just a gathering place for various public online records sites. That is one of the reasons it is wrong, a lot of the public records sites are outdated and keep stale information.

[ScrumDown]

I know if the boogie man want to get my info he can. That said, no matter how infinitely small it may be, removing some of the info makes me feel a tid-bit better.