TRI-STATE (WFIE) -
If a stranger wants to learn more about you, it's becoming easier to find a lot of personal information and it's done with just a few mouse clicks and a few bucks.
The site is called Spokeo.
It's a paid people search engine that gathers information from several sources all in one spot.
14 News found our 10:00 p.m. producer's profile, where she lives, names of her family members, income level, even her religion.
Where does the site get all these details and is it a violation of privacy to sell it?
We talked to a computer expert and some folks at a local coffee shop.
Jill Carter uses social media for networking and to promote her business, The Coffee Cottage, in Evansville.
"I do want people to have access to be able to contact us and things like that, but I also don't want people contacting me for the wrong reasons," Carter said.
So, she sat down with 14 News to see what others could find about her on Spokeo.
Just by typing in her name and city, she found "previous addresses, who lived with me. Even though it's family. And, I guess just my facebook account," Carter said.
According to Spokeo's website, they gather much of their information from phone books, marketing lists, social networks and other sources.
Even places you may download games or applications, according to computer expert RJ Champion of Champion Computers.
"We try to download things that are free and sometimes you have to fill out short forms. They'll take that information, your name, phone number and address and consolidate that with other information and then they'll have a precise log on your activities, things you like to do, where you live, and some of your buying and spending habits," Champion said.
So, what about someone with hardly any online presence?
"It had my place of birth, my address, where I was born and raised in Louisiana. When you clicked on Louisiana, it actually showed my old house," said Graylin Smith, who doesn't even use social media.
Smith uses no social media and he and is family are very careful about providing any personal information online.
"I have 12-year-old daughters. We don't let them Facebook, they don't have their own email accounts, so it's a big concern in our household," Smith said.
Now that he's discovered Spokeo, he's even more concerned about privacy and the website's bottom line.
"I think it's an absolute violation of privacy and there should be laws that protect us as individuals from this type of information particularly because they're actually making money off my information and I'm not seeing a dime of it," Smith told 14 News.
"Information and especially personal information is worth money," Champions said. "If you get online and you have to fill in personal information, if it's not worth that time or losing that information to someone out there you don't know, then you just don't do it."
There is a way to delete your profile from Spokeo and that's what Carter plans to do.
"If I knew how to do it, I would go on and block my information so people wouldn't have access to it or telemarketers, companies, whatever," Carter said.
Here's how to delete your profile on Spokeo.
- After finding yourself using the sites search tool, copy the URL.
- Click on 'Privacy' in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.
- On the next page scroll down until you see a box asking for your websites URL, then paste it into the box.
- Provide your e-mail address and within minutes, you should receive an e-mail about how to further continue the deletion process.
We want to know what you think about paid people search engines like Spokeo. Would you pay for someone's personal information? Take our poll by logging onto the 14 News Facebook Page or on our homepage, 14news.com
Copyright 2012 WFIE. All rights reserved.
Step 1; finding yourself using the sites search tool
Step 2;Copy your pages URL
Step 3; Click on 'Privacy' in the bottom right hand corner of your screen
Step 4; On the next page scroll down until you see a box asking for your websites URL, then paste it into the box.
