Thursday, April 15, 2010

Is spokeo.com just a search engine, or a rip-off?

Spokeo.com states to do something very simple: aggregate all the publicly available info about a individual and sell it to everyone who is willing to pay with payday loans no fax or otherwise. Some are claiming spokeo.com is a scam, but others are arguing that it is merely a service. The answer is … type of. “Spokeo.com is a scam” isn’t entirely true, but the functionality of Spokeo isn’t necessarily entirely legitimate.

The service Spokeo.com offers

Social networking info is aggregated by the spokeo.com service. Any details considered public on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning, Netflix, Flickr, Last.fm or any other network is aggregated using the Spokeo.com search. Email addresses are used as identifiers to match different profiles to one another. You can get access to anybody’s details if you get instant cash loans or any other financing to pay Spokeo.

Spokeo.com viewed as a scam?

Spokeo.com scam can be a better name for the site, according to some allegations. Within the privacy policy, Spokeo.com claims to only gather publicly accessible details. Independent tests by snopes.com and news services have found the opt-out process on Spokeo.com is spotty. Some whistle-blowers saying spokeo.com is a scam claim the billing process could be iffy. Spokeo.com has answered the scam allegations with a statement that they are “just launching a new version and are reviewing policies”.

Keeping social networking data safe from Spokeo

Spokeo.com, scam or not, aggregates details that you may not want. More important than which web online websites like Spokeo.com could be aggregating your info is what you choose to share. If available, set your privacy settings to a level you are comfortable with. Spokeo.com is an aggregator – so make sure to remove info you don’t want public from the original web site where the information was available. If Spokeo.com is a scam or not, guarding your online reputation is very important.

Sources:

Snopes.com

Pandia Search Engine News

Spokio.com blog



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