Experts have been giving serious consideration to the deleterious impact of social media, and by extension, youthful indiscretions, upon privacy and our futures. After careful study they now offer some sage advice on how to avert an inglorious past and reinvent oneself.

To start, they suggest – and this is very important — you should never make any mistakes. That’s right – this is an absolute must.  Certainly this can be very hard for some. Therefore the surefire way to ensure that never happens is to simply skip puberty and one’s twenties altogether. Just go straight from 5th grade to being an accountant. This virtually guarantees less alcohol intake, less sex, drugs, or rock and roll — and as we all know, leading a fun-free life and reducing one’s stupidity factor are virtually synonymous. (Not to mention how much money you’ll save not having to get all those tattoos removed when you sober up.)

If it is too late, however, and your drunken indiscretions are already posted all over Facebook for posterity, the next fail-safe step is to simply change your name. (There’s lots of legal advice and how-to videos on YouTube to help you with this.) If that fails, reconstructive surgery and entry into the witness protection program offer the best chance of success.  Please watch the videos below for greater insight.

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AND THEN THERE’S THE GOOGLE WAY…

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“The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” – A Book By Nicholas Carr

I have trouble focusing sometimes.  Allow me to give you an example: Do you recall reading the sentence, "I have trouble focusing sometimes"?   I hope you enjoyed it, because it took me half an hour to write.  I typed the first two letters with gusto, but then a critical event intervened:  I saw a squirrel climb a tree outside my window.  After observing this fascinating rodent for a record-breaking 20 seconds, important questions soon occupied my thoughts:  Ones like, “What is the evolutionary advantage of a cute, fluffy tail,” and “Why it is such a ‘must-have’ in the world of squirrels?”
 
These meanderings were rapidly followed by yet another compelling distraction – the urge to uncover answers.  And it wasn’t long after reading two whole paragraphs on the subject of squirrel DNA that I soon found myself with five additional tabs open in my browser, one for e-mail, another for YouTube, Google News, Facebook, and yet another for email (apparently to observe twice as many people not writing me.)
 
 In the matter of an hour, I had managed to skim a handful of paragraphs in Wikipedia ranging from the history of the Russo-Japanese war to a surprisingly thorough sketch of the early life of Bob Saget (please don’t quiz me on anything), look through a total of several hundred Facebook party pictures (none that I had been invited to), watch 14 YouTube videos of trampoline accidents, and play a quick game of online solitaire.  So — I conclude, Nicholas Carr may in fact be on to something.
 
In his fascinating and controversial new book “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains,” Carr posits that the Internet is quite literally reshaping the way we think. The endless stream of information (aural, visual, and textual) is actually altering the neural pathways in our brain, he says, and unfortunately much of this change may be for the worse. Drawing upon a wide variety of research, including recent discoveries in neuroscience, Carr demonstrates that the Internet is taking advantage of the plasticity of our brains, impairing our abilities for critical thinking, reflection and memorization, and effectively sapping our concentration. In other words, it’s the reason that we forsake a long book for our Blackberries, and the reason why I can’t finish writing a sentence without doing a million other things in the most inattentive, cursory way imaginable. As the author puts it in the original essay that inspired the book, "My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski."
 
Carr is no Luddite either. He understands the immense importance of the World Wide Web and the myriad ways it has changed all of our lives for the better (free exchange of ideas, fluffy squirrel tail photos et al.) His book is a thoughtful, honest look at a real problem, and an eloquent plea for a return to intelligent discourse and deep, critical thinking. I heartily recommend it.  (I should note too that these last few sentences took me close to an hour to complete. I thought I saw a moth. It was a piece of lint.) 

Spokeo Scores a Solid 100 With Webutation.org!

Webutation.org, an open project that examines and rates websites for reputation with the aim of making the web a safer place, published its latest findings this week, awarding Spokeo a full 100 out of 100 possible points – the highest score achievable in its ranking system.

Webutation collects user feedback and customer experiences about websites, and tests websites against spyware, spam and scams with smart scanning technology in real time. It utilizes a powerful arsenal of tools to arrive at its “reputation” scores, including industry champions such as :

Google Safe Browsing  -  which alerts users if a web page they visit is asking for personal or financial information under false pretences, and protects them from phishing or spoofing; McAfee Site Advisor  -  which scans sites against adware, spyware and viruses; WOT (Web of Trust)  -  a site that displays which websites can be trusted for safe surfing, shopping and searching on the web, and collects reviews about websites; Plus many other website feedback resources. Webutation also categorized Spokeo as “G Rated/Child Safety: Safe.” The 100/100 score places Spokeo in the premium company of other trusted sites such as Google, AOL, and Yahoo. For the full report, click here.

Spokeo is thrilled to announce the release of its cool new product “Spokeo Mobile.” The new mobile product released just today is virtually identical to the standard version, and is super fast.  Now you no longer have to be tethered to a computer to perform a search. Conduct an instant search about anyone anytime, anywhere, using only a smart phone. Simply enter Spokeo.com in the smart-phone’s browser and be transported directly to Spokeo’s webpage. Try “Spokeo Mobile” for yourself today, and find out  just how cool it really is.

Spokeo’s vanguard approach may prompt some interesting debates on occasion, but if there’s one thing that seems to transcend all differences and bring a smile even to the staunchest doubting-Thomas’s face, it is our inimitable, ever-so-likeable, Spokeo hedgehog logo. People constantly tell us how much they love it.  So when the company recently handed out t-shirts to all of its employees, it came as no surprise to us that almost everyone who saw it clamored for one.  The response was nothing short of overwhelming. We were inundated with pleas for extras — which soon got us thinking, it might be really cool to share this prized commodity in all of its boundless cuteness with some of our loyal customers too. After all, you’ve earned it!

So, if you have been a Spokeo premium user in good standing for six months or more running, and would like one of our coveted Ts too, simply e-mail us today using the same address you used to sign up for with Spokeo, and we’ll soon scurry and scamper to send your fab Spokeo-T as quickly as our little hedgehog feet can carry us.  Don’t dilly-dally though! This offer’s good only while supplies last, and these hot Ts are sure to disappear quicker than you can scarf down a double-fudge sundae on a hot summer day and holler “Hedgehog!” 

Preface

Spokeo’s privacy practices have been a sizzling hot topic of late. The rumors and conjecture surrounding our most recent product seem to have proliferated like wildfire, pervading the blog circuit and media in surprising ways. To help clear up the confusion and dispel some of the more baffling myths, we would like to spotlight some of the more incendiary notions circulating, and take a closer look at what seems to be spurring the commotion.

Our Genesis   PRIVACY SPOKEO

The driving force behind all innovation and new-product design is to fill a need — to provide a smarter, more efficient, and easier-to-use tool or mechanism, which in some way improves upon the old, or offers a solution where none existed. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, and Spokeo is no exception to this adage. 

The impetus behind our product was to create a more efficient and user-friendly people-search engine that would allow users to locate information and keep up with their friends more easily across social networks. We recognized that there was a growing need to track and organize content in this arena in a meaningful way, and we came up with an effective solution by which to do so. 

Since then, our product has evolved and expanded significantly to incorporate other data and search modalities, ultimately becoming a full-fledged people-search engine. Despite the breadth of our later iteration, however, our core approach has never changed. While we do provide an efficient mechanism by which to pull published information together from multiple sources, we continue to aggregate this information from public records only, and do not provide access to private or secure data.

Psychology and Mythology   PRIVACY SPOKEO

We recognize that for some users it can be a startling experience to encounter a block of personalized information which they may otherwise be unaware exists – particularly when the information is of a type they may perceive as “private.”  It is important to understand, however, that Spokeo does not generate any data, nor is it the source.  We simply aggregate public records already published across the Internet and other venues, many of which have been in existence for a very long time.    PRIVACY SPOKEO

To shed light on some common misconceptions, Spokeo does not possess Social-Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank accounts, or other private financial information, such as credit scores. We are not a credit reporting agency. We do not issue consumer reports, nor do we draw conclusions about the public records we do aggregate. Indices that are sometimes mistaken for actual credit information are in reality prevalent marketing profiles of the ilk advertisers have been relying upon for decades. 

Spokeo was and remains a search engine. Much like Google we simply aggregate already published, public records.  Further, since individual profiles are only as accurate as the published information they are comprised of, we continue to remind users that any information on our site is not guaranteed for accuracy and therefore should be regarded as a reference only.   SPOKEO PRIVACY

Controlling Privacy

Spokeo receives millions of searches a month, yet very few opt-out requests. Though these requests represent only a small percentage of our total usage, we value all user input, and remain highly sensitive to any concerns some may harbor regarding their privacy.

Since our launch in 2006, Spokeo has consistently incorporated user feedback to help improve our product.  At present a core aim of our development is to accommodate mainstream consumers seeking greater control over the information that is available about them. 

The first step we implemented in this plan was to provide a straightforward, easy-to-use, opt-out option. At present a user can opt out of their listing and remove it from Spokeo with only a few clicks of a mouse. (For full instructions on how to opt out please visit the Privacy page.)

It is noteworthy that few search engines offer a full opt-out feature, or if they do, make it remotely as easy to use. The small percentage that do offer this option frequently employ lengthy and demanding authentication processes, often requiring one to submit hard copies of driver’s licenses, social security numbers, or other forms of identity via fax or mail.  Spokeo not  only allows users to opt out fully – it allows them to do so easily with only a single e-mail.

Some people want to know why we require an e-mail, and speculate about whether it is for purposes of collecting more information. It is not. The reason Spokeo requires an e-mail to opt out is for the same reason that many other websites do — namely, to authenticate that the request is in fact coming from a person and not a spambot – a malicious program that could otherwise wipe out the entire data base.  PRIVACY   SPOKEO

Spokeo’s opt-out procedure is really quite simple.  As indicated on the Privacy page, one simply copies the URL (web address) of the listing they wish to have removed, and pastes that address into the designated URL bar on the “Remove a Listing” page. Next they enter an e-mail address where they would like a confirmation link sent, and click on the “Remove Listing” button. It’s that simple. A link is then sent to the e-mail address for verification. 

In the verification email we do remind the requester that opting out will not remove their information from the web. The internet is, as most recognize, a virtually endless network of information sources. The many sources Spokeo relies upon to obtain data remain, and continue to be accessible. The best we can do is offer some control over what information is available on our site.  Which brings us to our next point…  PRIVACY SPOKEO

On The Horizon     SPOKEO PRIVACY

Spokeo, and society as a whole, are at the vanguard of an information-age revolution. As the internet expands, users and product innovators alike continue to broach new frontiers that stretch the notion of anonymity as we knew it. In the late 90s, posting photos online was almost inconceivable. Today it is the norm.  A few years ago, sharing what you were doing or where you were in real time was unimaginable. Today services like Twitter and Foursquare are all the rage.  These cultural changes have new privacy implications, and technologies like Spokeo are helping to reveal and shape new norms.  SPOKEO PRIVACY

As the Internet becomes increasingly people-centered (as evidenced by the rise of social networks and social media across the board), focus is shifting from “loss of anonymity,” to greater vigilance and control over how information is presented. Recently Spokeo declared its ground-breaking objective to be the first data aggregator ever to offer users some measure of control over the public information that is published about them. This is an ambitious undertaking that presents numerous challenges, but our engineers are already working feverishly to deliver upon that objective, and we hope to unveil our new privacy controls within the year.

In the meantime Spokeo not only remains a great people-search engine, it provides valuable insight into what types of public information are published about an individual, and presents a great way to monitor one’s own virtual identity as well. To learn more about Spokeo and privacy, please refer to Spokeo’s Privacy Policy page.

Today a new reality is slowly emerging which could hardly be anticipated when Spokeo first began.  All of us – innovators and users alike – are slowly becoming aware that aggregating multiple public profiles and consolidating them into one seems to give birth to yet a whole new identity heretofore unrecognized. This is, in essence, the new gestalt of virtual identity – an identity that is sometimes greater than the sum of its parts. Some find this “new” identity disturbing, while – happily – many more do not.  They recognize that it is simply a natural corollary of the information age and people-search aggregation.

The Web is becoming more open and connected with each passing day.  In the late 90s, posting photos online was almost inconceivable. Today it is the norm.  A few years ago, sharing what you were doing or where you were in real time was unimaginable. Today services like Twitter and Foursquare are all the rage.  These cultural changes have new privacy implications, and technologies like Spokeo are helping to reveal and shape new norms.

We’ve been listening to people’s feedback closely, and have been implementing many changes, even amidst the big technical challenges we have faced from the sudden traffic surge to our site. Spokeo has declared its ground-breaking objective to be the first data aggregator ever to offer users some measure of control over the public information that is published about them. We are now working feverishly to deliver upon that objective, and hope to unveil our new privacy controls within the year.  

Many have heard our pioneering message, and are waiting expectantly to see what we can achieve.  Others remain at odds with the existence of people search as a whole, and would rather we simply disappear. We are not politicians, nor philosophers. We are just engineers.  The truth is, we do not spend a lot of time discussing problems. We prefer a hands-on approach to solving them.  While it’s impossible to make everyone happy, one thing I do promise:  We intend to keep trying our very best.  Thanks to all of our loyal users for your patience. The best is yet to come.

Harrison Tang, President

Upon the release of Spokeo 4 in early March of this year, a surprising controversy sprang up among the blog communities and media. Our new product unexpectedly seemed to strike a nerve in some, eliciting powerful and sometimes harsh responses. Suddenly we were the focus of overwhelming attention. There was much misplaced trepidation, and startling things were being said about us.  We were flooded with demands for interviews — assailed with piercing questions, followed by a seemingly endless stream of often one-sided commentaries and hard-lined news stories, many of which were less reliable than we could have imagined.  

Throughout this maelstrom, however, we somehow managed to resist the temptation to dive into the fray. While the impulse to defend ourselves and shed light on the many half-truths was compelling, we did not wish to engage in any caustic back-and-forths, or verbal skirmishes. It is simply not what we are about. Instead we decided to concentrate our energies on what we are about – namely creativity and development.  

Spokeo’s chief aim was, and remains, to create great products. Simply put, our heart is in innovation. We are committed to cutting-edge design and ingenuity, and recognize that developing great products entails healthy and sometimes vigorous debate. We pay close attention to any feedback we receive, good or bad, because we know that doing so stimulates great ideas. And indeed, in many ways our willingness to integrate and respond to criticism is what has shaped and molded our products into what they are today.  Now that some of the recent controversy has quieted down, however, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect upon everything that has transpired in recent months, and present another side of the story as well.  

I think most hi-tech innovators would agree that every new technology suffers labor pains. New products undergo many metamorphoses and lifecycles, and frequently endure multiple phases of adjustment and fine-tuning before they assume their true form.  Spokeo is no different. Ours is a new data-aggregation technology. It has revolutionized the realm of people-search and made it what it is today. In 2006, we invented the concept of social-network aggregation.  In 2008, we popularized social-search technology, and today people search stands at a whole new level. But this kind of innovation does not come without a few challenges along the way.  

Spokeo has always strived to push and test the limits of technology, as is evident in our track record of innovation. Perhaps more important, however, we have also discovered that, sometimes when we test the limits of technology, we also test people and their threshold for change.

We are forever examining, reassessing, and fine tuning our products. While we in no way revel in controversy, we have come to accept it as an inevitable part of the innovation process.  Like any new-product innovator at the cutting edge, we make mistakes, and will inevitably continue to do so.  It is simply par for the course. We will also, on occasion, probably unintentionally upset some, while hopefully pleasing a great many more. No matter how controversial we may be, however, what we do promise is to continue to listen to all factions — fans and critics alike.

Harrison Tang, President

For all you Spokeo subscribers (present and future) alas, the time has come. We held off for as long as we could, but unfortunately, come July 14th, Spokeo prices are finally poised to go up.  OK – we hear your collective groan.  But hey – there’s good news too!  As long as your subscription remains active, all you current Spokeo subscribers get to keep your lower-price packages indefinitely!  That’s right, you are “grandfathered” in.  And, better yet, any new subscribers who sign up before the rate increase get the same fabulous deal as well. (That should light a fire under a few of you dilly-dalliers who have been meaning to join but just haven’t gotten around to it.)  So get the lead out! Take advantage of this great window of opportunity. Sign up now, and tell all your friends so they can lock into the lower rates too. And for all you other late bloomers out there who may sign up after the rate-increase, not to worry.  Our prices remain so low, you’ll still be getting one heck of a bargain. So chin up!

For those of you who may not have heard, The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) – a non-profit public interest group that, interestingly, bills itself as “working to keep the Internet open, innovative, and free”– filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week, alleging that Spokeo’s practices violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

In its complaint CDT made some rather startling allegations that confounded both mainstream users and techies alike. In fact, most of us were simply left scratching our heads in bewilderment, exclaiming “Huh? Are these guys for real? How do they even come up with this stuff?”

Now, we should say that we believe wholeheartedly in a healthy exchange of ideas. In fact, we applaud advocacy and recognize that watchdogs play an important role in society. They are a necessary component that helps keep everyone in check. But, a healthy system of checks and balances is a bit different from a misleading and unjustified complaint filed with federal regulators that, for all intents and purposes, threatens to suck the life out of entrepreneurship, innovation, and free enterprise, wouldn’t you agree?

We understand that CDT is interested in protecting privacy.  And that’s not a bad thing.  In fact, we’re all for it. So long as it’s in sync with the twenty-first century. Still, we think that even when you have a cause that’s near and dear to your heart, it is important to dot your “i”s and cross your “t”s  before you go making damaging allegations – especially ones that we know to be untrue.

CDT’s complaint is, to put it mildly, royally off mark. To clarify just how off mark, let’s take a look at the basis of its claim: In its complaint CDT asserts that Spokeo violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act because Spokeo offers detailed “consumer profiles” and then encourages employers to use these profiles to evaluate potential hires. Further, they allege, Spokeo violates Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, because Spokeo guarantees credit and wealth assessments for “all” individuals – in particular, “information about the consumer’s mortgage, income, and investments” –  just for purposes of luring consumers to sign up for paid services, but then “never” delivers “any” of that information.

Spokeo offers detailed consumer profiles? That’s interesting. It sure comes as news to us. Last we checked, we were a search engine, not a credit bureau. OK, so let’s stop pussyfooting around and look at what’s really going on here. The reality is, CDT knows that to regulate Spokeo the way they would like to – in other words, to put us out of business — they must first meet certain threshold criteria that would make Spokeo subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  First on that list is, they must establish that Spokeo generates consumer reports. Then they must show that Spokeo encourages employers to rely on those reports for hiring decisions. 

The problem they face meeting that threshold is twofold:  First, Spokeo simply does not generate consumer reports. Try as they may to repackage the data Spokeo aggregates, and re-characterize it as “consumer reports,” CDT simply cannot. Calling an orange a grapefruit still does not make it so, no matter how hard you try to make it look like one.

Spokeo does not aggregate any secure or private information such as Social-Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank accounts, or credit scores. Moreover, we do not draw conclusions about the public records we do aggregate. Any wealth indices displayed on our site are already published and obtainable. These are merely widespread marketing summaries of the ilk that advertisers have been relying upon for decades. Spokeo was and remains a search engine. Much like Google we simply aggregate already published, public records, many of which have been in existence for a very long time.

Second, Spokeo does not encourage employers to rely on any of the data we aggregate for any purpose, much less for purposes of making employment decisions.  Here, again, CDT’s complaint is baseless, and frankly, reckless.

A little history: Since our inception, there have been several iterations of the Spokeo product.  Spokeo 3 was strictly a social-network people-search product.  It performed people search across numerous social networks, and offered users a way to keep up with friends and contacts across those networks more efficiently. That version of the product included no additional, external published sources. Hence, if a human resources professional who was already using social networks like MySpace or Facebook to research an employee simply wanted to do so more quickly, Spokeo’s search engine simply provided them with a more efficient and perfectly legitimate mechanism by which to do so.

Since the introduction of Spokeo 4 in March 2010, which added other published-data sources and functions, to avoid the possibility of any misuse or confusion, Spokeo expressly ceased to promote its new product for any human resource purposes. At present, we in no way endorse or encourage such uses, nor do we plan to do so in the future.  Further, Spokeo repeatedly states across the site that any information it aggregates is only as accurate as the published information it is derived from, that the information cannot be guaranteed for accuracy, and should therefore only be used as a reference. Perhaps if CDT had bothered to research things more carefully before launching into its tirade, it would have realized that there were two distinct products with separate life cycles, and both Spokeo and taxpayers could have been spared the unnecessary cost of a frivolous complaint.

With regards to CDT’s second claim that Spokeo violates Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act because it guarantees credit and wealth assessments for “all” individuals, specifically “information about the consumer’s mortgage, income, and investments,” all just for purposes of luring consumers to sign up for paid services, and then “never” delivers “any” of that information — the claim is not only baseless, but frankly borders on the defamatory and libelous.  Again guys, how ‘bout next time before you go making such outlandish allegations you try some due diligence first?

Before anyone purchases any service Spokeo offers, Spokeo states in no uncertain terms that the information available “may” include…and then goes on to provide a full list of what the search may offer.  Spokeo never promises to provide all of the information in every search. It cannot because information is not static. It varies from person to person. People are different, and not every person has the same types or quantities of data published about them.

As for specific “information about mortgage, income, and investments” – those fields are offered as part of the business premium product only. Hence, a free search will not yield this information. Again, maybe if CDT had bothered to explore Spokeo’s product line more thoroughly, it would have noted this distinction. Once more, however, for the reason indicated above, even within the business premium package Spokeo can never guarantee that all of this information will come through in every search. Information will always vary among searches due to the varying availability of published records on any given individual.

It is noteworthy that as of the date of this writing, however, 89.8% of searches on the business premium product have yielded “estimated income.” Economic Health measures, offered as part of the regular premium product, yielded results in 65% of the searches, and Wealth Level fields yielded information in 69% of searches.  Given these statistics, how CDT arrived at “never” sure beats us.

More glaringly, CDT never bothers to mention that our paid products offer not only the potential for yielding more data, but provide extra search avenues as well. Under the premium product one can perform reverse e-mail search, phone search, and even upload a contact address book and follow friends across social networks. How CDT could ignore all of that and flagrantly claim that you get nothing for your money is beyond us. 

Fortunately, as evidenced by the millions of searches performed on Spokeo every month, it seems most users clearly disagree with CDT’s claims, and value our products and service.  We thank all of our users for their continued support and remain committed to improving upon, and developing even greater products in the future.