Social Networking gone too far??!

[alch3miss]

So I was on facebook today, and a friend of mine posted a status mentioning a "new" website, Spokeo.com. Apparently this website contains your information, home phone number, physical home address, occupation, social information.

Quickly upon finding myself I deleted myself through their Privacy link. I found information of where I live, how long I lived there, marital status, my homes value. There were other links there as well but you need to pay a fee to unlock more of these information links.

Just my thoughts-- this is some really creepy stuff. But in this day and age, privacy is becoming something that we are giving up by being on these social networking sites.

[SilverBack]

Just looked at it and it turns out to be some kinda phonebook/facebook hybrid. Yeah I don't trust it either. It just sounds like some sorta "phishing pond" built by some scammer who's too lazy to dig-out info on his own.

[alch3miss]

Whats the internet world coming to =(

[severous01]

you have the option to put all that crap in there. i have a facebook but my phone is unattached and i have kept all my private stuff private

change your settings

[nemelek]

What used to require a privet investigator can now be done at home with a few key strokes. I found more information about an old girl friend than I should have known.

[DebbyM46227]

I deleted my info from Spokeo about a year ago when I first heard of it....the info isn't accurate at all, it said I live in a $1,000,000.00 home. In my dreams.

[SailDesign]

Spokeo isn't so much "Social Networking" as "Information Peddling". Spammers delight.

[frownonfun]

just looked up my info on spokeo. lol. they are way off. still a little disturbing though that they are even cataloging this stuff.

[annn]

http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/spokeo.asp

[alch3miss]

Certainly it says I'm married, live in a highly priced home, both false lol. Also the google property picture shows my Sedan in the picture. I'm just scared of what knowledge I would get if I had a paid membership to the site.

[frownonfun]

well according to that snopes even the paid info isn't very accurate either. but that could be pretty damning in and of itself if someone goes to that site looking for info thinking that it IS accurate. oh well. what can you do?

[tomato]

I play with the idea of giving up FB almost every other day but it's so convenient to upload pictures there, and "like" links to keep informed. In a way, it acts like a filter of news (that's how I use it mostly). None of the stuff I post is of any interest to anyone. The DOB I had to enter is fake, and so is my nickname ... meh... still, they sniff out a fair amount of information from my computer(s), my smartphone, etc.

I keep telling my friends to *not* put their DOB, phone numbers, etc. on these sites and they still do.

[tomato]

What really worries me is how businesses handle your information. They email stuff very casually without worrying about who sees these emails . For example, doctors email information about you to your insurance for billing purposes, including name, date of birth, SS numbers and all. Sure, some of the sites are secure [where information is uploaded directly onto a SS website] but I understand that a lot of them only use emails. I was shocked to see that some even use free "gmail" accounts to conduct such business. :(

Sorry about the off-topic comment, here but the more we talk about these privacy issues and the more people react, and maybe we'll have a chance at making some changes.

[frownonfun]

Originally Posted by tomato

I play with the idea of giving up FB almost every other day but it's so convenient to upload pictures there, and "like" links to keep informed. In a way, it acts like a filter of news (that's how I use it mostly). None of the stuff I post is of any interest to anyone. The DOB I had to enter is fake, and so is my nickname ... meh... still, they sniff out a fair amount of information from my computer(s), my smartphone, etc.

I keep telling my friends to *not* put their DOB, phone numbers, etc. on these sites and they still do.

I'm almost exactly the same. That's what I tell all the people I know that are anti-facebook. It's such a convenient way to keep everything you want to be informed about in one place. I've got news outlets I trust, authors, speakers, bands, musicians, organizations, clubs... all "liked" so that I can keep informed about their goings ons. But I'm not trying to give that up at all.

Plus I'm like you, I don't have the account setup through my real name anyway. Which everyone thinks is weird but I don't see why. Do you go by your real name on a forum or a chat room? I know that I'm still compromising my privacy in some ways but it's all stuff that can be found with or without my having a facebook account.

[alch3miss]

Originally Posted by tomato

What really worries me is how businesses handle your information. They email stuff very casually without worrying about who sees these emails . For example, doctors email information about you to your insurance for billing purposes, including name, date of birth, SS numbers and all. Sure, some of the sites are secure [where information is uploaded directly onto a SS website] but I understand that a lot of them only use emails. I was shocked to see that some even use free "gmail" accounts to conduct such business. :(

Sorry about the off-topic comment, here but the more we talk about these privacy issues and the more people react, and maybe we'll have a chance at making some changes.

+1

[severous01]

maybe spokeo is for insurance companies....that's why my insurance on my house is sooo freakin high

[YAR1S]

yikes. This website must pull from lots of sources including recent home sales.... It knows that my family bought a house 6 months ago! :S