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There's more to protecting your privacy online than turning off your Spokeo profile
A shadow of a hand over a computer keyboard symbolizes online crime.
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There's a profile up there for you right now on Spokeo, probably, unless you're like a lot of people and you've taken it down. Facebook feeds everywhere have been filled with people sharing information on how to opt out of being listed on Spokeo.
Ryan Calo is with The Stanford Center for Internet and Society. He says Spokeo grabs this stuff off the web by scraping all sorts of information that's out there about everyone. Things like real estate transactions, telephone listings, social media, online photo albums, census data. It's not illegal, but rarely do you see all that data gathered together. It can be unnerving to see it all in one place, especially with a map overlay.
Spokeo lets you hide your profile but that doesn't always work right away. And if you move and start creating new data, a new profile might show up. Intentionally or not, we're pouring new information on to the Internet all the time.
Michael Fertik is CEO of Reputation.com; they sell privacy protection services. He says you can recapture some of your privacy, stuff the toothpaste back in the tube as it were. But to really be undetectable and anonymous online requires a much greater effort, stuff like not ever filling out warranty cards, skipping all those saver cards at grocery stores, and strenuously guarding yourself online. Because Spokeo is not a lone phenomenon. There are dozens of sites just like it that you've never even heard of and it's going to be difficult to fight all of them.
Also in this show, a new translation app from Google lets you have a conversation in real time with someone who speaks a completely different language. Imagine the possibilities.
I think the person mentioned by Mr. Calo is Harry Surden, a law professor at the University of Colorado
http://lawweb.colorado.edu/profiles/profile.jsp?id=316
I have found what looks like the paper here:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=709715
Hello, my name is Rob Frappier and I'm the Community Manager for Reputation.com. First, I want to say thank you to Marketplace for talking about the important issue of personal privacy protection.
Second, I would like to address some misconceptions in the comments about Reputation.com's relationship with Spokeo.com.
Many people out there are rightfully concerned about their personal information appearing on sites like Spokeo.com.
So are we, which is why we've made it our mission to help people control their privacy online.
Reputation.com is a separate company from Spokeo. We don't have the same owners, managers, or investors. Reputation.com allows its members to remove their personal information from many “white pages†websites (including Spokeo) at the click of a button.
Reputation.com does not, and never will, provide any personal information to Spokeo or any other online “white pages†sites.
From our understanding, it is possible to remove some of your personal information from Spokeo for free by following instructions at the bottom of this webpage: http://spokeo.com/privacy/
If you do not want to remove yourself from Spokeo and other people-search websites manually, Reputation.com's MyPrivacy service allows users to remove their information online automatically.
Again, Reputation.com does not own or control Spokeo, and I encourage you to communicate directly with Spokeo if you are concerned about their privacy practices.
Thank you,
Rob Frappier
You need to broadcast an update to your Spokeo story, before more people get taken in by the Spokeo / ReputationDefender axis of evil. http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2010/04/07/spokeo-com-scam.htm
Spokeo and Reputation Defender work together to scam people. How dare you publicize them?
http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2010/04/07/spokeo-com-scam.htm
I found this to be an interesting, informative, and valuable report. I plan to go to Spokeo and take down my profile immediately.
In the story, John Moe interviews Ryan Calo from the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. In answering, Mr. Calo referenced a paper by a gentleman named Harry Certain (?sp) out of Colorado about structural safeguards to privacy. Can you provide any additional information about that paper, such as the title and publication? I am interested in reading it. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dan Sacco
