PSA: Breach of Online Privacy

[eumelia]

There's a new social network search engine in the neighbourhood and it is creepy!
It harvests your data, your ip addresses, everything and doesn't even bother to ask you if you want to be a part of it's database.

I don't relish advertising it, but people should know who is harvesting their data and how it's left completely breached.

It's called Spokeo and trust me when I say I did not expect to see my Amazon payment list there.
You can remove yourself easily though, which is what I did with all my verified email and will probably do with other searchable qualifiers.

Opt out here.

How you do is this:
1. search for email address or name
2. copy the url of the profile (from the top of the search window)
3. paste the profile url into the box in the privacy page linked above (the email address comes up automatically)
4. type the captcha
5. an email is then sent to that address and you click the link to finish the removal

h/t nixwilliams

Edited to Add: http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/spokeo.asp

Comments

[eustacia-vye28.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I got linked here by a friend, and I'm opting out. I'm spreading the word over at my flist, too.