I tried a few names. Either nothing came up or the info was incorrect.

Are you using your real name here?

Monablair, Thanks for that information. I pulled up myself, using my real name, and they had enough information correct, (as well as some incorrect), to make me want to be invisible, lol! So now I am!

It's funny that you should mention this site. I was at lunch with some friends of mine last week, and one of the women, who's divorced and single, was talking about the men she'd met through an online dating service. When asked how she checked them out, before deciding whether or not she wanted to meet them, she said she got all the information she needed through "Spokeo". Until then, I'd never heard of this directory. She said that in all instances where she'd used Spokeo to check out her potential dates, the info was right on target, and it had saved her from several frauds early on.

We have a po box and an unlisted phone - although they could find my city/state. I have checked this before.

tina

Before you opt out you might want to read what Snopes posted about spokeo. If I remember correctly they said not to opt out because then you are sending them an email and that's just another piece of information they have about you. In several instances people chose to have their information removed and it wasn't. All of the information is available from public sources so even if you delete yours from spokeo there are other sites that have it.

I'm lucky - nothing comes up when I enter my name. My last name is short and common so that might be why.

Here is a link that might be useful: snopes

I forgot to add that if you email them use an email address that you don't use for anything important. Or create an email just for this purpose.

Gotta love Snopes for telling it like it is!

In short, removing your personal information from display by Internet aggregators isn't a one-time deal, but rather more like a never-ending game of Whack-a-Mole: You might swat down an aggregator site or two, but more of them will inevitably pop up.

It shows my house, but it looks like I have to pay to join if I want to see what else it knows about me. I put in DH's name and it shows him as living at our current house . . . and married to his ex-wife. I really need to clean this joint up and see if I can find here around here somewhere!

Hah, I wonder if they cop the ip address of everyone who enters a name to search.

I searched using several email addresses I use and it revealed my true name and info on each one.

Hmm, I searched my email address and it said Full Results: Available, but didn't show my name. I know that I changed my email settings recently so that recipients don't see my name, just my email address. You might want to check into your settings.

I tried using a variety of those sites to find my deadbeat ex-husband, and turned up nothing useful whatsoever. Finally, out of desperation, I paid for one of the searches. It turned up outdated info. I finally called the tax assessors office in the town it said he lived in and I got the correct information...for free.

My DH has a pretty common name, and once owned a business in a town where another guy with his name lived. Apparently that guy was somewhat of a scofflaw, and we always had debtors and skip tracers contacting us because we were listed in the phone book in that town. Oddly enough, a couple years after we sold that business, our names were STILL listed in the directory and telephone book with that phone number.

So I take those on-line information gathering sites with a grain of salt. Someone who really wants to find out about you can do snooping in a myriad of ways. See the other post about googling yourself. I found out some humorous things about "me" using my forum name and real name.

This is the only forum I go on and the only place I use deedee99. Here is what's on the first page when googling deedee99:

deedee99
Hi...looking for fun loving lady, who has a passion for life.
Irish guy would like to meet sincere honest and fun loving lady Im in to music and art My music tastes are very wide rangeing My glass is alway.....

I think I'll be laughing all night!! Actually he looks like a nice guy, and I'm not laughing at him, but it cracked me up!

Oops. I meant to post that on the RE: Don't post your life story on the internets!

still snickering ......

About 10 of my names came up but not one of them was me. And I've been online for 20 years now.

I put in DH's name and it shows him as living at our current house . . . and married to his ex-wife.

I found something similar except that it says that DH is STILL married to his ex-wife and living in the house they used to own together! LOL

4 of my last 5 addresses were there and yes...I removed them. I'm sure it'll pop up again anyway.

If you go to mylife.com you'll find similar info. I'm not even a member and there was a pic of my children! Thumbnail sized but there nonetheless. I am desperately trying to figure out where THAT came from. I'm so annoyed by this "sharing of info" throughout the internet without our "active" consent.

There's about 57 people in my area with my name. But I'm not there, at any of the addresses I've had over the years. I wonder how I'm flying under the radar on this.

binsd, my sister does facebook (I don't) and had some family pics of us from last Christmas (in her photo area) and I told her to get them off her facebook, PLEASE! A friend of mine told me she saw them. Maybe the rules on facebook has changed since then, but, I would think people need your permission first, I very well could be wrong, though.

Facebook freaks me out a bit - not only does one need to be concerned about what they themselves "put out there", but there are countless opportunities for others to share and post things you'd rather they didn't. I heard something about people being added to "groups" without their consent recently, and that's disturbing too. I recently deleted my Facebook account in its entirety - not simply deactivating, but deleting because I just don't care to use it again. It was a PITA to get rid of it; obviously, the Facebook powers-that-be make it difficult for a reason. (I also completely understand that once something is posted, it never truly "goes away". That in itself is disturbing.)

I guess this is just one more bit of evidence that I'm fast becoming curmudgeonly, because I really resent the directive to assimiliate via Facebook. Everywhere you look there are businesses and media outlets telling you to "join us on Facebook." No - I refuse to engage any further! I just really object to the whole "shoving it down our throats" aspect.

OK ... I think I'm done ranting now. ;-)

So glad I never took the FB bait. AJ, good for you breaking free!

I just recently did the mobile facebook on my iphone. I "like" my local news station and can receive updates. I am very careful about what I have placed on Facebook - don't have a pic of myself and no photos at all. I held off joining until a few months ago when a cousin asked me to sign up so she could share pics that way. I have another friend who only uses facebook to share pics of his kids. I like using it for things like that. Some people however seem to post hourly updates!

My place of business has a facebook page as does my church (many in our area do).

tina

auntjen, I feel the same way!!

I suppose Facebook has its place - but like I said, I just resent what feels like a mandate to assimilate! ;-) That said, I did reconnect with a couple of "long lost" friends via Facebook and was happy to catch up with them. And that said, I also learned via regular status updates that several "friends" are racist and homophobic, petty and vindictive, drunk most weekends, and "sick" every-other-day (disgusting details freely shared). The whole TMI aspect that was a part of my group of 249 "friends" really started turning me off after awhile. It's nice not to log on and see that "baby A had three poopy diapers this afternoon after eating strained peas."

I love FB! I've been reunited with old friends, love seeing pics of my nieces & nephews, friends' families and gkids. I laugh at all the goofy things my "friends" post. I spend at least 20-30 minutes a day checking it.

I don't know what the fuss is about. If you have digital pics printed somewhere, there is a record at Walgreens or or whatever site you used. If you pay your bills online or order anything online, records exist and are there for the taking. But even if you mail a check, what is to stop a thief from stealing the envelope and copying the bank codes off your check? That actually happened to me once in about 1980!

So what if a picture of your house and car is online? Just for fun, see what you can find out about me from what you know so far....I'm on FB, I'm here, I pay bills online. And then what? If you have evil intentions, you'll get what you want to know. If you're just nosy, what difference does it make to me?

There are probably MILLIONS of sites where people post personal information online. And people still use the postal systems. Crooks are everywhere.

I love Facebook too!! Hey, it's hard to be the matriarch of the family if you don't keep up with technology. I text my grandkids, etc.

I have connected in a close way to many people I love and care about but lost track of.

I just found out about another site that has a lot more information than spokeo.com. It is Pipl.com. Scary how much info there is without having to pay a fee.
I am also seriously considering dropping Facebook after I got an email today from eHow.com. Starting February 1 the only way to sign on to their site is through a Facebook account. I am not happy with that idea at all.

LOL! I searched my DH on that site, Terriks. There is 21 marriage licenses listed in his name. Tonight, we're going to have a talk. He can't afford another wife.

Weird, on the site Terriks listed, it has my info (public records verify my address) but lists me as married and having one child...my stepson. Probably because his surname is the same, but my son used to live with us, too...but his surname is different.

It ALSO lists family as including my late father, my mom with her current surname, and my sister. None of my children or my brother.

In another listing it has the correct address, but the phone number of a business we owned in a different city over 6 years ago!

DH comes up with too many hits, and my eldest DD is listed as a 61 year old single woman at her current address. In reality she and her BF live in an apartment and she's in her late 20's. The listings with her correct age give two addresses she hasn't lived in for over 8 years.

If anyone is interested, and accesses Facebook via wi-fi hot spots (coffee shops, hotels, airports), FB will now be utilizing HTTPS (secure connection, little lock icon like we see at banking sites, etc.) as added security & to prevent account hacking. (Some guy as an experiment sat in a coffee shop, and using a shared wifi connection with other customers was able to gather their FB account data, including login info. He got something like 40 accounts in just over half an hour.) As I understand it, this is just for wifi use tho, not PCs. Announcement at link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: FB: A Continued Commitment to Security

Forgot to add, today is Data Privacy Day (who knew? ;) I found another article, very in depth, but it tells who the major players are in culling private info & putting it out there. And how to get your info out of some of those databases.

How To Remove Your Name From Search Engines and Social Networking Sites There are multiple articles, so far I've only checked the top one (in bold by "JessicaM")

My how times change. A year ago when I googled my real name I got zip. Not so today. The reason I stumbled onto all this is because I see my name now appears here and there and much to my disgust, on my ex's info page at mylife. I am not happy. For various reasons (whole nuther post).

It does seem that businesses et al, are almost forcing you to join FB or you are left behind. I am quite private about most things, and I know there are others like me and who aren't on the FB bandwagon.

I was on FB for ONE DAY (a couple of years ago) and got off because an old classmate, I barely knew his name, contacted me. Then felt guilt that I didn't accept him as my friend, too much pressure! HA!

Re Facebook friend requests from old classmates, I heard a comedian say something like, "If I didn't talk to you in high school, why on earth would I want to now?" I have to say, just based upon my own FB experience, there is some truth in that!

I utilize FB daily, and my friends list is minimal. My privacy settings are set to friends only...not friends of friends, so that helps limit my info that gets out.

DD1 had gotten a request from BIL's step-daughter (DD's step-cousin twice removed?) and she was vexed about it. They HATED each other growing up, and have never spoken as adults, so why add her? She then culled her list to only those people she actually likes and cares about. I've seen some people with hundreds of 'friends'. Really?

OTOH, I am a pubic employee, so a LOT of my info is accessible. My salary, my emails (work), my phone & address. Even the employee benefits I have, so you could find out my doctor, but not my medical records, how much I have in my retirement account and how much I give to charity. So, I guess this is why I'm not as freaked about the whole thing...I agreed to give up a significant amount of privacy when I accepted my job.

On the bright side, the Pipl site told me I had unclaimed money! ;-) Not a windfall, but just enough to make the online paperwork worth my while...