Spokeo the Electronic Private Investigator
December 28, 2012
Anyone looking to dig up dirt on a budget might want to turn to Spokeo, whose site introduces itself with, “Is He Cheating on You?” Lovely.
Despite the salacious headline, Spokeo could actually be useful for those of us not fit for the Jerry Springer show. It can help find long lost friends and family, for example, or. . . well, that’s the only white-hat example I have. The service has you enter a name, phone number, address, email, or username, then collates every scrap of related data it can find. Naturally, though, you have to pay to see most of what it uncovered. Via an auto-billed monthly subscription, no less.
The site’s FAQ page explains:
“While an individual could potentially locate a phone number or address by searching phone books, then redirect to a county tax assessor’s office to determine a home’s value, he or she would have to conduct hundreds of searches to discover all of the information available through just one search on Spokeo.
“Spokeo’s unique and powerful algorithms swiftly navigate and organize data that is spread across hundreds of locations. We synthesize that information in one convenient summary, delivering the most comprehensive snapshot of people-related, public data offered online to date. The search results provide a snapshot of the vast amounts of accessible information, offering invaluable insight about the individual being searched.”
The About page tells us that, in 2006, Spokeo emerged from the basement of Stanford University student Harrison Tang, who worked with classmates to develop the tool to better keep in touch with friends online. They assert that “Our mission is to help people find, learn about, and connect with others more easily than ever.” It is a slightly different tone than the attention-getter on the front page. I can’t say I really blame the entrepreneurs — they will almost certainly make more money this way.
Cynthia Murrell, December 28, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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