Sunday, May 30, 2010

Spokeo - SCARY and wrong... ACT NOW!!!

I just saw this on CNN and feel the need to alert everyone!

It is called spokeo and acts like a google for people. It pulls information on people from social networks, online orders, google earth, bills, etc.

If your name comes up in a search it can tell people your age, address, race, interests, hobbies, phone number, estimated income and home value, etc. !!!!?????!!!!!

It is like asking for identity theft.

This. Is. Awful.

What can you do? Remove your name.

There is a barely visible option in gray, itty bittty print at the bottom that says "privacy." You can click on that to remove your name BUT it asks for your email address :(

Then, even more disgusting, it isn't necessarily removed. I checked after removing my name and they just changed one aspect of my previous address (instead of "Drive" they made my address end with "Road") and still had all the same info up so DOUBLE CHECK to make sure your information is, in fact, removed.

Worse yet, they cap off the amount of people you can remove. I tried to take off my parents' and grandparents' names but the evil genius who set up this system said that "to protect our safety" (I call BS!) they limit the names that can be removed by one email address so the system is "not abused" !!!!????!!!!

Anyways, I just thought y'all should know so you could remove your personal information so it isn't a click away from an identity theft or a stalker or a robber. I hate to be a pessimist but you never know if those personal details got in the hands of the wrong person...

I really encourage you to remove your name(s). And, tell your friends!

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