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May 2, 2007
Super Searcher Robert Lackie
How many of us—when we learned that Robert Lackie would teach a session on finding personal information online—clamored to attend his Wednesday session, secretly hoping Robert would show us every website that would give us the lowdown and dirty secrets on, well, just about anyone?
When retelling our NJLA experience to colleagues, we justified our prying instincts, saying we attended Robert’s session all in the name of professional development. Robert appealed to the latent stalker in most everyone who attended the program…but certainly not me…really.
On a more serious note, Robert presented some unsettling things to think about: the fact that Zabasearch.com published social security numbers, available online and for free; the fact that so much personal information comes from the government’s public records, such as housing and tax records and that whether you request your name be removed from one people search site, there’s no stopping another site from posting that exact same information elsewhere.
A couple of brave souls volunteered their names for Robert to use as examples in internet searches. Robert plugged these volunteers’ names into sites, such as Zaba, Wink, Private Eye (Because You Need to Know!) and cross referenced various sites to develop a full profile of the person being searched.
Visit www.kn.sbc.com/wired/fil/pages/liststudentpe3.html for a full list of personal search sites online.
Posted by Valerie haeder
Posted by at May 2, 2007 2:10 PM
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