Spokeo – Big Brother or Invasion of Privacy??

We all know it.  There is no such thing as a private matter anymore.  With quick access to information on the internet, you can find almost anything.  What is so scary is how easy it is.

I’ve talked about online reputation before.  I have a friend who passed his resume on to me so I could submit it to my HR department for consideration.  While I was reading his resume, I noticed that he was using the same email address (personal) which is not totally professional.  Let’s say, his email address was iloveguys@hotmail.com (it’s not it, but I thought I would use a glaring example).  That was what was on his resume.

I quickly created a yahoo account for him using his first_last@yahoo.com.  I edited his resume and advised him that if he should submit a resume, to not use his personal email.  First, it’s unprofessional.  Second – - this is what can happen.

Have you heard of Spokeo?  It’s the email search engine that can find and reveal any history or activity your email has done online.   I found out about it today because someone added me to their msn messenger account.  I didn’t know who it was so I was trying to find out to whom the email belongs.  When I used Google to find out who it was, Spokeo.com came up.   It’s a search engine where you can enter the email address and it will search all networking sites, social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Friendster etc. and even Youtube for any videos you may have uploaded using that email account.

Lo and behold – I found the craziest information.  Even private photos on Picasa came up.   I searched for someone I knew and Jeesamajigger!  I found personal photos of himself which I don’t believe is public.  I searched for another friend of mine and found information as well.  (I say private because both of them are half-naked or completely naked to say the least)

Granted, before you may fully view the contents you will have to pay a subscription.  $15.00 for one month is all it takes for all of you data to be revealed to anyone.  It could be the HR department of a prospective job application, a future boyfriend/girlfriend, or anyone who’s interested to find out more information about you.

Is this an invasion of privacy?  Or is it simply new technology to help us ward off disasters in our future.  You decide. I, for one have deleted my Flickr albums.  I don’t want to be THAT exposed.

Apparently, it has been around since last year and many people think that SPOKEO is really SPOOKY-OH!  I searched online regarding Spokeo.com and here are what many have to say:

http://www.themallorysonline.com/2008/03/spokeocom-invasion-of-privacy/

http://profy.com/2008/01/09/spokeo-review/

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/spokeo-onlne-service-c165406.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/spokeo-onlne-service-c165406.html

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