Author Topic: How much can you find about yourself online without paying anything?  (Read 3431 times)

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PSMKay

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With the abundance of free sources for public records online, it has become very easy for a prospective employer (or landlord, or significant other, etc) to do all kinds of sniffing into your history.  We've addressed such pitfalls as Facebook before, but have you ever checked what else is out there about you?  One of my major tasks at work these days is to run background checks on everyone who applies for an apartment.  In larger businesses, HR departments will check credit, criminal records, and all kinds of other junk. 

Some places that I've been known to check:
1. http://www.legaldockets.com/index.html - state by state, shows which courts allow free online searching of their databases.
2. http://www.pipl.com - searches social networks and phone directories
3. Social Networks
4. Google
5. Websites of current employers
6. Real estate transaction listings (checking if the current landlord as listed on the app is actually the landlord)
7. www.nsopr.gov - National sex offender registry
8. www.instantofac.com - Office of Foreign Asset Control list of banned foreign interests (i.e., terrorists)
9. Based on usernames found in other searches, one can then search wikipedia, blogs and other social networks.

If someone without a big hiring budget were snooping around to find out about you, what would they discover?  (Obviously, if it's embarrassing, don't post the gory details here.  This is the internet, after all.)  How do you feel about all of this information being online?

KMC

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Thanks to a lot of tedious work on my part, nothing.  That wasn't always the case though, and let me tell you it's a pain in the butt to erase your digital footsteps.  I never had anything necessary to hide, but I am uneasy with anyone being able to find my contact information, history, etc...

Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action. -T. Roosevelt

SLY

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Wow. That's a lot of info PSKay.

If someone were snooping they would find that I had a facebook and twitter account but they wouldn't be able to see anything. They would find my SM website. And then they would find my blogs. I have a couple public blogs. One I started during college, so I'm actually in the process of editing out a lot of my old spill your guts type of stuff. So anything I put out online, I'm fine with. Even some of the personal stuff. They might also find a few of my friends blogs who mention me on there.

Its very interesting.
Everything you can imagine is real ~ Pablo Picasso