Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Some Things are Better Left Un-spokeo-n

Denise has an important Public Service Announcement regarding online privacy and the people-search website Spokeo.

You'll probably want to get your listing taken out of there. I know I did. The amount of information that was provided was kind of scary--and in some cases, appallingly inaccurate.

For example, my profile reported that I live in a $1 million+ home. Yeah, RIGHT! I'm not even sure there are homes valued at that much in this three-town zip code!

The website is exceedingly slow to use, but it's worth the time to get your private information out of there. Yes, someone could find it all in other places, but it wouldn't be as easy as typing in ONE search term.

5 comments:

Brother Charles said...

I don't know. I looked myself up and though it correctly diagnosed my astronomical sign, I'm listed as married and "interested in fitness." Somebody should be fired for their shoddy research. :)

christine M said...

Thanks for the tip. At least the picture it showed for me was my book cover - so that's not too bad - but I had the listing removed. Interestingly enough in compiling their information they added a person to our family. Hmmm.

Sharon said...

apparently my home is also worth 1m+! but its a below average neighborhood!
Spokeo = spooky!

Lynn said...

Looking up all my friends on this site was the most fun I've had all week. So Wrong. My parents have been married for over 40 years, and yet are still listed as single. My father has been seriously handicapped for a decade, but loves all sorts of sports, including hockey! Oh, and he isn't interested in politics, which is as incorrect as anything the National Enquirer could come up with. I don't expect these folks to be making any money any time soon!

Still a creepy idea, though.

Lisa, ofs said...

Eesh! Definitely creepy to see myself pop up in there. And yeah, definitely riddled with inaccuracies. O_o