Where my privacy gets violated

Okay.  I am irritated, but I'll try and keep it PG.

Bollocks.

Have you been to http://www.spokeo.com/?  If not, make a little trip over there right now.  I'll wait.

Type your little name in the "name" look up box.  Or better yet, your email address. 

Hit search.

Let the shock/anger/disbelief begin.

Maybe you are lucky and didn't have the experience I had and some of my friends had.

When I typed in my name it pulled up several pictures (and a video) of myself and my family.  When I typed in my email address it pulled up the last 8 blogs I have left comments on.  Maybe one of YOUR blogs.  When my friend typed hers it---the last few items she purchased on Amazon.com.  When we pulled up my husband's WORK email address----all of his Pandora stations.

Seriously.  Creepy.

Now, I understand we live in a digital age.  People join facebook and other social networking sites and fill out those little forms where you share everything but the kitchen sink about yourself.  I'm guilty of it.  I didn't think about it.  I thought it would be safe and protected.

We don't sell your email address to outside sources.

This password isn't safe enough.  Please add in some extra characters to make it safer.

Facebook has that entire section for picking and choosing who can and can't see what in your profile.  Heck, I don't even use my REAL FULL name on any of these sites!  What gives.

The good news is that this site allows you to remove yourself.  Which I did ASAP.  I wasn't posting anything bad---everything I found would have been okay for my grandma to know about.  That isn't the point.  It isn't that I want to go sneaking around and looking at dirty sites.  As my husband said, "Great, now anyone can steal my identity and get EVEN more information about me.  What is the purpose of this site except for malicious reasons?"

He is right!  For less than $3 a month you can join this site and enjoy the benefits of looking up ANYTHING about ANYONE.  Pictures, email address, who they are friends with on social networking sites, which social networking sites they belong to, what they are ordering off Amazon, what blogs they are commenting on, how many children they have, how much money they are making, what their Pandora stations are.....you name it.

So if someone wanted to steal a credit card, they could just find someone who they have similar interests with.  Do their magic----I would have an awful hard time explaining that the purchases from quilting stores were not me.  I promise!  I didn't order those Neil Gaiman books.  I like him, I have purchased his books before, but I promise it wasn't me.

I don't know, maybe I am being super paranoid.  It happens when you see pictures of your family you thought you had marked "don't share with the world" on a random website.  It makes you feel pretty violated.

Now the GOOD NEWS.

So, if you find yourself in the same situation as myself.  Click on your name/email address URL.  Go to the bottom of the page where it says "PRIVACY" and follow the directions to remove yourself.  If it doesn't work right away.  It didn't for me.  Send them an email.  You also may want to send an email to the sites where they are getting this information from: Pandora, Amazon, etc.  to let them know you aren't happy.