Sure thing- my personal info is out there on a random site. Just like I'm sure I have messages waiting from people trying to reconnect with me and won $5000 by clicking on an irritating pop-up ad. In an effort to prove I was an exception to this claim, I went ahead and searched myself via Spokeo.
So there I am. Beneath all of the blurred portions- my address, phone number and names of my family members. What's that? You want to actually see a bird's eye view of my house? Under the Property tab (thankfully disabled after the screen shot), you can choose between that bird's eye view, street, and satellite.
Aggregating websites such as Spokeo and Intelius are leading the pack in the development of this controversial market. They work by gathering data from just about every online record a person has and then compiling into one handy little report [silver platter] that is available for purchase. I would assume it's not very little actually, considering all of the things mentioned in my Spokeo report were included in the free "preview" of the results.
From a business perspective, I do see the benefit of compiling personal information into one easily accessible database. Another common contention- none of the data provided is private. Information is pulled from public records, phone books, social networks, mailing lists, and other third-party sources.
Now from the human perspective, I see it as just another loophole. Although I'm aware it's simply an issue of presentation, I have a hard time believing these companies can really have a clear conscience. Spokeo was relatively easy to remove myself from but Intelius has a conveniently drawn out process that requires any opt-out request be made by fax, which then leads to 4-6 weeks of processing time. They specifically say requests by phone and/or e-mail will not be processed. If companies like this continue to claim their innocence, I guess that means I'll might actually have a chance at winning that $5000.
If you would like to hinder your personal information's silver platter, you can remove your listing from Spokeo here and read through paragraphs of fine print to get removal information from Intelius here.
