There's a lot of discussion going on at several places I've visited today about a personal information website called spokeo.com (I'm not giving you a link. I don't want to publicize it any more than necessary.) In any event, it's pretty shocking when you first find out about one of these places to realize that so much of your personal information is posted right there for the world to see. However, just remember . . .
- there are dozens of other sites like this.
- there's really not much any of us can do about it. Even if you're successful at getting your name removed from a few of them (which isn't likely), there are plenty of others who don't even give you an option to do that.
- much of the information isn't accurate (e.g., neither the number of people in our household nor the assessed value of our house is correct).
- any accurate info is readily available on legitimate sites.
Requesting that you be removed from sites like this is pretty much a waste of your time . . . all you're accomplishing is to let them know your email address is a legitimate one (they probably already have it but don't know for sure it's valid until they get an email from you).
What puzzles me is why anybody would pay to join spokeo to the tune of $5.00/month in order to have access to ALL the partially-true information, particularly when any information they have is FREE & generally more accurate at various other (mostly government) websites. (Just too lazy to look the information up themselves, I guess.)
Unfortunately, this is one of the prices we pay for having all the stuff we WANT available at the click of a mouse. Just like anything else in life, there are always going to be those who have to go & spoil it for everybody.
I do believe, though, that I solved a mystery today. Since I've never researched and/or bought any penis-enlargement devices or meds, prescription drugs (without a prescription) or Nigerian get-rich-quick-just-give-me-your-bank-account-number-and-password, I've often wondered why I continue to get dozens of these messages filling up my trashcan every single day. I'm pretty sure they're getting their mailing lists from places like this!
3 comments:
Guess I should have left it. It said I made $283,000 a year. I can only wish.
I totally agree, Dee. I hate all the publicity about stupid sites like that. Those sites LOVE all the publicity, that's how they get paying customers.
If you google your county's tax assessor or clerk of circuit court, you'll have access to lots of public records.
Oh and by the way - when I went to the site in question, there were so many people with my name, I had to click on the state, county, and city that I live in for my incorrect information to come up. If someone knows the city I live in, chances are they probably already know me.
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