mommaduck Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 You have got to be kidding me! This website showed up when I was doing a search on family. It's got my name, my birth year, places I've lived, people I'm related to and not related to, my age, their ages, where those people live, etc. And it's all PUBLIC! Yeah, there is going to be a phone call in the morning. Some of this isn't even stuff that I have online anywhere! :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 You have got to be kidding me! This website showed up when I was doing a search on family. It's got my name, my birth year, places I've lived, people I'm related to and not related to, my age, their ages, where those people live, etc. And it's all PUBLIC! Yeah, there is going to be a phone call in the morning. Some of this isn't even stuff that I have online anywhere! :glare: Other sites have it, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 Do you have a list of sites that I should be contacting for them to remove my information? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferB Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hmmmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murmer Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 so I went there and they do have info...but I can't access it without an account...and I don't want to give them any more information...any idea what to do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 You have got to be kidding me! This website showed up when I was doing a search on family. It's got my name, my birth year, places I've lived, people I'm related to and not related to, my age, their ages, where those people live, etc. And it's all PUBLIC! Yeah, there is going to be a phone call in the morning. Some of this isn't even stuff that I have online anywhere! :glare: Good luck with that. There are at least half a dozen well known sites and likely dozens more with a lower profile. It's impossible to remove all of the info, and even if you could, it wouldn't prevent 10 more from popping up tomorrow. It's a fact of internet life (even if YOU don't have an internet life). These sites have been around for several years. A few of them even have my minor daughter's name connected with mine, which was more disturbing when she was younger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 What I don't understand is why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatA Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I don't know for sure, but don't they access online information like marriage certificates? I know my county has that information online (along with police tickets and arrests... not that I have any :001_smile:) You can find the basic information like age, place of residence, etc. Census records are public, aren't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 What I don't understand is why. Usually the information is from public records or purchased from mailing lists. Some of the sites earn money by presenting themselves as a poor-man's background check. If you meet someone on a date, you can check and see if they are telling you the truth or not. (Which is ridiculous, because half the time they have incorrect information.) One of the sites has me and some poor girl from Arizona melded into the same person. We have the same first name, but our middle and last names are different. Somehow they also gave her my middle and last name. I checked everything I can find and there doesn't seem to be any identity theft or credit fraud. I'm kind of familiar with how these systems pair information records, so I think that we just had some similar dates or locations and got stuck together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 Census records are not released until decades later (we're all anxiously waiting for the 1940 to come out). Yes, certain things are a matter of public record and they are available online depending upon each courthouse. Marriages, Divorces, various court cases (my husband was able to look up the transcript of the custody battle for his brother, my sister was able to look up the custody battle for three of the siblings as well as our dad's divorce from both of our mothers). I was able to find my dad's previous address through a tax payment he made. But all of that was truly a matter of public record and it required me going to the sources of the information. It didn't have his name and every darn relative listed under him and every address he ever lived at all on one page. I intentionally keep our names out of the phone book. White pages suddenly put us in the other year and I found that out when we received an unwanted Christmas card from a certain relative. She knows what area we lived in, but I didn't want her having open access to our exact address. I did fill the form out to have it removed and it was. Mylife.com's form wants me to give them MORE information to "prove" who I am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I don't know for sure, but don't they access online information like marriage certificates? I know my county has that information online (along with police tickets and arrests... not that I have any :001_smile:) You can find the basic information like age, place of residence, etc. Census records are public, aren't they? Census records from 1930 are being released this spring. More current records are not public, pursuant to long standing federal law. Current birth certificate info isn't widely available online, to my knowledge. California used to have it all easily accessible online, but they removed that several years ago. Marriage info may be spotty, based on state. Colorado used to have current marriage/divorce info publicly available online but no longer. I don't find a simple answer to where sites such as spokeo and mylife get their info. It began with property records but has grown to dozens of different sources. Your web presence is irrelevant. There's plenty of info out there about people who have been dead for twenty years available on those sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicAnn Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Yep, it's terrible and annoying, but that site is one of MANY. I have zero web presence...like you can't find me at all. Yet here are these sites with my addresses, family, some even have an age and income range. The income range is shockingly wrong, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I tried to look at that site but it wouldn't show me much without me putting in my email address. I saw my name, age, the street name was blacked out, my city/state, zip code and birth year. I'm curious what else it has but I hate the idea of using my email that will open me up to contact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I tried to look at that site but it wouldn't show me much without me putting in my email address. I saw my name, age, the street name was blacked out, my city/state, zip code and birth year. I'm curious what else it has but I hate the idea of using my email that will open me up to contact. Here are a few sites where you can find similar info: Veromi USsearch Spokeo Yahoo Zaba--okay, this one's new. It has a physical address for me going back to 1989. Interesting. People Finder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommaduck Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 I did learn another thing last night. If you are part of a public yahoo group and have your actual name attached to your email, then others can find your email address. I found my mother's last night and I wasn't even looking for it. I'm a bit extra conscious about this because I know how much I can find online (I do genealogy, keep track of a few estranged family members, and I know a couple of them keep track of me...and then add the fact that I've been stalked by someone we once knew). Some information, I don't mind and know that it's a fact of life. My address is one of those that I like to keep to myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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