The Information Age: A Look at Spokeo.com

My understanding of the capabilities of average Joe users of the internet was heightened today as I came across Spokeo.com.  According to Spokeo.com:

Spokeo is a search engine specialized in aggregating and organizing vast quantities of people-related information from a large variety of public sources. The public data is amassed with lightning speed, and presented almost instantly in an integrated, coherent, and easy-to-follow format.

While an individual could on their own, for example, potentially locate a person’s phone number or address by searching phone books, then redirect their search to a county tax assessor’s office to determine a home’s value, they would have to conduct literally hundreds of searches to discover all of the information available through only a single search on Spokeo.

Examples of information to be found on this site include:

• Address
• Phone
• Email
• Nicknames
• Family Members’ Names and Ages
• Gender
• Age
• Marital Status
• Housing Arrangement
• Income
• Household Income
• Hobbies
• Photos
• Videos
• Social Profiles
• Lifestyle
• Picture of House
• Income Comparison
• Home Value Comparison
• Economic Health

As one could easily tell, much of this information is generally perceived as private and the concept of such a site seems invasive to many people.  While some of the information provided by Spokeo is inaccurate and/or outdated, much of it is also very accurate.  About.com’s Urban Legends has a nice synopsis of Spokeo and some tips for avoided identity theft.

 

Photo: Screen shot of Spokeo.com

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