Intelius.com has all your public information in their database for sale for $7

As usual office conversations sometimes bring up interesting topics. So we were searching each others names online on google and of course the above site came up. Apparently what they do is collect peoples public information from social media or from other sources of public records aggregating the results into a report and then sell that report to whoever for a fee! I'm sure a lot of you see where I'm going with this. I know we all have public information on the Internet that we beleive to be harmless, however my issue is with the collection of such information purposely for the sole purpose of making some company I have not authorized to sell my information! This website has all your email addresses, your work history, your family's history, location history etc etc. Now individual information might be again harmless but imagine a website like this providing a comprehensive report of your online information to whoever? Personally I'm going to ask for my name to be removed. I suggest you do the same. I'm surprised they have not been sued yet.

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E Double U

Has my full name, age, cities I've lived in, and names of my of relatives.

seigex

Fyi, this is how to remove your info, from their FAQ:

The quickest and simplest way to have your information removed from our database and reports (also known as "opting out") is to send us a request via the Intelius Opt-Out online form (https://www.intelius.com/optout.php). Be sure to include your email address so that we can notify you both when your request is received and when we've completed your opt out.
You can also send us a request via fax or postal mail. In order to accurately identify your records, we need your request to include:

Name
Date of birth
Address
Proof of identity, consisting of either:
- Copy of a government-issued ID with any photo or ID number crossed out. Examples: driver's license, U.S. passport, U.S. military ID card, state-issued ID card, or employee ID card from a state agency.
- Notarized Identity Verification Form

Here is contact information for submitting your request:
Fax
Mail
(425) 974-6194
P.O. Box 4145
Bellevue, WA 98009-4145

Your information will be removed from our database within 7-14 days. For more details on how we protect your privacy, view our Privacy Policy.

MTciscoguy

You can request it be removed, but just remember, your information is already out there and the information has probably been sold many times over. These types of companies have been sued many times and the courts always find in their favor, the only thing they require the companies to do is provide a way to opt out, but by the time your request to opt out, the information has been sold to another company or several companies.

Intelius has been around since the beginning of the internet and one thing to remember, if you are on the net, you are providing information to the public domain that is collected by thousands of companies.

kohr-ah

Eh.

They can have it. I am sure my credit card companies have sold my information 200 times over already.

Opt out and just keep moving on. Every time I get a new "we changed our policies" email or letter it let's me opt out if less and less.

TheFORCE

MTciscoguy wrote: »

You can request it be removed, but just remember, your information is already out there and the information has probably been sold many times over. These types of companies have been sued many times and the courts always find in their favor, the only thing they require the companies to do is provide a way to opt out, but by the time your request to opt out, the information has been sold to another company or several companies.

Intelius has been around since the beginning of the internet and one thing to remember, if you are on the net, you are providing information to the public domain that is collected by thousands of companies.

Right, I know we have public information on the web already. My point with this is that it makes it a lot easier for people to get the information from one central location because it is already compiled and formated. Instead its a lot harder for people searching for information to associate and make sense and put together individual information when they don't know what they are searching for.

MTciscoguy

TheFORCE wrote: »

Right, I know we have public information on the web already. My point with this is that it makes it a lot easier for people to get the information from one central location because it is already compiled and formated. Instead its a lot harder for people searching for information to associate and make sense and put together individual information when they don't know what they are searching for.

I didn't say I agree with it, but I know for a fact, by the time an opt-out is processed by this company, dozens of other companies already have it in a compiled format and it is still moving down the line to the next company. What is really bad is a lot of this information comes from sources you have no control over. DMV, Rental Contracts, Purchase Contracts, Property records, School records, etc. Much of that information is available in public databases. Data collection and compiler companies make big bucks by telling people about us. Unfortunately, there is so much of that information that we have no control over.