[PSA] New Website TruePeopleSearch has Released a Substantial Amount of PII for Free - General

I'll try to keep this short. TruePeopleSearch cropped up over the past month and has similar functionality to FamilyTreeNow which has similar information but isn't quite as detailed or open about it. In addition, TruePeopleSearch's information sharing policy is so obtuse that it effectively allows third parties to do whatever they want with your information. The reason it allows this is because TruePeopleSearch stole their privacy policy directly from a social website named "Stud or Dud" which is intended to be a dating app of sorts. Well Stud or Dud and other dating apps don't allow you to look up millions of records containing information on the fly at the press of a button. Instead of explaining what all TruePeopleSearch actually gives away, it's better to just show rather than tell. [t]https://i.imgur.com/DKH5S0M.png[/t] I've blacked out a large portion of the info because this very well may be a real person even though it was just a random name I threw into the thing. All of those names also have their own profiles each with a massive chunk of information on their own. I can verify the validity of this because I looked up my own name and it had information on me, my parents, and my grandparents (though I keep my digital footprint fairly small so the information they had was outdated and limited, but they had a ton of info on my parents). The problem is the opt-out process grants them the right to collect your IP address with the name you choose to remove (which you agree to only remove your name and they reserve the right to verify your identity to make sure it's you). So now they can tie back whatever IP address you used to your actual name. Although there are a lot of people who are tech savvy enough to know how to avoid this, the vast majority of people aren't. As I mentioned earlier, third parties have full reign of your information the moment you start opting out, and they are allowed to do whatever they want with it. In their privacy policy they explicitly state that: [quote="Privacy Policy"] This Usage Information is used for many purposes including, for example, to: Third party service providers might combine information they collect from your interaction with the Applications with personal information they collect from other sources. [B]We do not have access to, nor control over, third parties' use of tracking technologies[/B].[/quote] Meaning third parties can now take whatever information they want and do whatever they please with it, which includes selling it. Given that the privacy policy is stolen, there's no stopping anyone from taking that information either, so I highly highly encourage you to opt-out ASAP by using a VPN or TOR, whichever is easier. If you guys need an explanation or a quick and easy then I can post a simple how-to just so they don't get match your actual IP when you go to remove your name. Their privacy policy page is here: [url]https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/privacy[/url] And the direct link to their opt-out page is here: [url]https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/removal[/url] [editline]Edited: [/editline] Until confirmed otherwise, it seems this list of records only pertains to people who have lived or are currently living in the US.

-nvmd- So why is this legal? I don't quite understand. It's rather scary that this nonsense is even allowed. Data collection against privacy is one of the most concerning issues of today.

[QUOTE=Derpmonster;52213346]I've read the OP but I still don't understand? What's the best way to hide myself from this? You're saying to get a VPN and [B][I]then[/I][/B] opt out?[/QUOTE] When you opt out they grab your IP so third parties can associate the item removed with the IP in question and link them which is why he said to use a VPN to opt out (so it'd have an IP not associated with you at all)

[QUOTE=Kiwi;52213348]Searched up my name. Not on there. Good. Could only be relevant to residents in the USA however.[/QUOTE] This only started circulating fairly recently, like within the past couple of weeks, so you might be right. I haven't heard any confirmations from people outside the US so I would say it's safe to assume that this is only relevant to US residents (past or present).

is this a trick to enter my information to check if i'm already in their server so they have my new infomation (Does this apply to US only? I'm only seeing US stuff.) [editline]54[/editline] [img]http://i.imgur.com/3GQbs4r.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Kiwi;52213361]If you don't read the terms when signing up with your real name, number, etc etc, you could be agreeing for other websites to be selling/sharing your data with other websites such as this. Which would make this legal. You gave it away when you signed it. However if states that your information will NOT be shared with anyone else and they did, then they're in shit.[/QUOTE] Problem is they basically said "fuck it" and absolved themselves of any responsibility for what their third party service providers do and what any third parties do. So it's a real kick in the teeth also knowing they try to collect even more information on you to give to those third parties when you try to opt-out. Searching as-is will have them retain the information but they aren't able to use that information for any other purpose: [quote]When you are searching for people, you may enter third party personal information such as their name or phone number. We retain the results of your search requests for a period of time at our discretion but do not use that information for any other purpose and have no obligation to maintain such search results.[/quote] However, when opting out which is indirectly mentioned here: [quote]At various other points during your visit to the Site, you may be asked to provide information about yourself. The use of other services which require the input of additional information is completely voluntary on your part.[/quote] You then fall under the section that basically says "ok now we have free reign of your info because you voluntarily decided to submit your own information and use the application" [quote]You have the choice about whether to disclose the information necessary to use these features of the Applications.[/quote] The most damning part is this portion of the privacy policy which basically says "we're going to track pretty much everything [B]including your IP address[/B] during the process": [quote] In addition to any Personal Information or other information that you choose to submit to us, we and our third-party service providers may use a variety of technologies that automatically (or passively) collect certain information whenever you visit or interact with the Applications (“Usage Information”), including the device used to access the Applications (“Device”), and the IP address or other unique identifier identified by that Device (“Device Identifier”).[/quote]

I found some of my family here. :ohno:

-snip, that question was answered.- Also, I found my name on that site :s:

Well, that was an interesting way to accidentally discover everything about my estranged mother's new life. She walked out without warning thirteen years ago and I never saw, spoke with, or heard from her again. I knew almost nothing about the life she has led since then. Yet, right there on my profile on this website, she was listed as a relative. A quick click, and I got a full history of everywhere she's been in the years since she abandoned me. I know about her new family, her new name, her new kid, her new business, everything. If I wanted to, I could go to her house. Call her. Email her. Write her. Whatever. That was never even an option before. Fuckin' weird, man. This was an unexpected shock to wrap up the night.

[QUOTE=Zelle;52213391]How is this even legal?[/QUOTE] Because the United States' information privacy laws are absolutely atrocious. There's not really a unifying digital privacy law, it relies on the states and as of now I haven't been able to locate where these people are based out of so I can't file an abuse complaint to their registrar. They've hidden their Whois details so I don't know if they would be in violation of digital privacy laws in their jurisdiction which would be valid cause for the website to come down. Frankly I'm not a lawyer but getting this website taken down needs to be a priority so I'm working whatever avenues I can

Welp, this is basically a stalker platform, found a lot of things on GabeN.

My name is on there, which links to basically my whole family AND where I previously lived. Kinda weird though because it says that my previous residence is the place I'm currently living at, and vice versa.

It seems to kind of guess at the information. It didn't have me, but my parents were on there, except all the information for my dad was actually for my grandfather (despite the fact that they have different names), and all the phone numbers and email addresses were wrong. [editline]11th May 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Big Dumb American;52213400]Well, that was an interesting way to accidentally discover everything about my estranged mother's new life. She walked out without warning thirteen years ago and I never saw, spoke with, or heard from her again. I knew almost nothing about the life she has led since then. Yet, right there on my profile on this website, she was listed as a relative. A quick click, and I got a full history of everywhere she's been in the years since she abandoned me. I know about her new family, her new name, her new kid, her new business, everything. If I wanted to, I could go to her house. Call her. Email her. Write her. Whatever. That was never even an option before. Fuckin' weird, man. This was an unexpected shock to wrap up the night.[/QUOTE] Keep in mind quite a lot of the information appears to be inaccurate.

[QUOTE=laserpanda;52213440]It seems to kind of guess at the information. It didn't have me, but my parents were on there, except all the information for my dad was actually for my grandfather (despite the fact that they have different names), and all the phone numbers and email addresses were wrong. [editline]11th May 2017[/editline] Keep in mind quite a lot of the information appears to be inaccurate.[/QUOTE] In the large majority of cases the information has been reported to be accurate to an extent. It doesn't have 100% perfect accuracy but that's because nobody is sure where it's pulling this information from. There's rumors going around it pulled info from a separate site called FamilyTreeNow before they limited their info and are now spreading it. It could also be a standard spider and scrape method, it's so new that there's very little info on it.

:snip:

woops there's my whole family. not entirely accurate info but they sure are trying

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;52213400]Well, that was an interesting way to accidentally discover everything about my estranged mother's new life. She walked out without warning thirteen years ago and I never saw, spoke with, or heard from her again. I knew almost nothing about the life she has led since then. Yet, right there on my profile on this website, she was listed as a relative. A quick click, and I got a full history of everywhere she's been in the years since she abandoned me. I know about her new family, her new name, her new kid, her new business, everything. If I wanted to, I could go to her house. Call her. Email her. Write her. Whatever. That was never even an option before. Fuckin' weird, man. This was an unexpected shock to wrap up the night.[/QUOTE] Same thing with my dad. Feels really weird with all the time I've spent trying to find something about him, and there's his name on my page... Anyone have guesses how they would get this information? My page is thankfully pretty bare but my whole family's info is up to date, even really recent.

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52213449]In the large majority of cases the information has been reported to be accurate to an extent. It doesn't have 100% perfect accuracy but that's because nobody is sure where it's pulling this information from. There's rumors going around it pulled info from a separate site called FamilyTreeNow before they limited their info and are now spreading it. It could also be a standard spider and scrape method, it's so new that there's very little info on it.[/QUOTE] It says it pulls from a database of public records, so it's probably just a combination of lots of different things like phone books, City and State records for property deeds, birth announcments and obituaries, etc. The only one that's a little sketchy as far as why it would be in public record is email address, but that's been wrong in every example I've checked so far.

[QUOTE=laserpanda;52213470]It says it pulls from a database of public records, so it's probably just a combination of lots of different things like phone books, City and State records for property deeds, birth announcments and obituaries, etc. The only one that's a little sketchy as far as why it would be in public record is email address, but that's been wrong in every example I've checked so far.[/QUOTE] [quote][B][I]Some [/I][/B]of the information provided in searches is based upon logic-based assumptions from information in our database compiled from public records regarding individuals’ names, addresses, ages, last names and the dates which correspond to these names, addresses and ages[/quote] I assume this is the part you're referring to? This is in reference to the logic-based portion of their search engine for records and isn't tied to where they're pulling the bulk of their information. Not to mention "public records" is so broad it could mean anything that's freely available on the Internet and doesn't really narrow it down to anything. [editline]Edited: [/editline] Not to mention access to government records on people typically costs money and if they're handing out this service for free there's no way they paid to have access to that many records for a free service. There's something else at hand.

Lots of outdated information about me! Must be scrubbing whois pages too.

It only found my mom, but it has our actual address. This shit makes my skin crawl

[QUOTE=laserpanda;52213440]Keep in mind quite a lot of the information appears to be inaccurate.[/QUOTE] It's mostly accurate but rather outdated for me. My current address is the place I lived two houses ago, for example. (With my previous address being the one before that. Both of these being so outdated I hadn't even joined Facepunch yet.) And for some reason my father, his brother, their sister, their parents, and my sister are all listed as possible associates rather than relatives while there's several possible relatives I don't recognize at all. And it's definitely missing actual relatives such as my mom's sister and mother. (But not her brother and father, lol. Also my mom's name is like 9 years outdated since she remarried since then.) Also for some reason I'm listed as my own relative?? Leads to a broken profile but it's my name. Edit: [img]https://i.imgur.com/awUhPTg.png[/img] That definitely seems accurate. Edit again: And now I find my father whose address is one we haven't lived at since like 1996 or 1997 which links himself as a possible relative and which actually is him, lol.

[QUOTE=AkujiTheSniper;52213504]It only found my mom, but it has our actual address. This shit makes my skin crawl[/QUOTE] Eh, I've personally accepted that this information will be out there. I've received death threats and stuff like that before and had people call me, but that's life. And that's gonna be life for the next long while, if not forever, based on how the internet works and how much information is being collected. There's gotta be change, and it has to start with people giving enough of a shit to do something about it. Fortunately, this may cause enough outrage. Unfortunately, I don't believe it will.

[QUOTE=wauterboi;52213512]Eh, I've personally accepted that this information will be out there. I've received death threats and stuff like that before and had people call me, but that's life. And that's gonna be life for the next long while, if not forever, based on how the internet works and how much information is being collected. There's gotta be change, and it has to start with people giving enough of a shit to do something about it. Fortunately, this may cause enough outrage. Unfortunately, I don't believe it will.[/QUOTE] You shouldn't just randomly get deaththreats mate.

I have a feeling like 99% of their system is entirely automated. The scraping, updating, logic checks, etc. Would also make sense because my dad had two profiles, one under his actual name and a broken one that he goes by. But since all the info he does is under his actual name then all the info the site scrapes falls under that name instead. If that's the case then it'll only get more accurate as time goes on and it's able to pull and update accordingly. If it's logically assigning that information then a single piece of info could update dozens of records, so it's a little worrisome how dangerous this might get if left alone for too long and it's pulling thousands and thousands of more records and new pieces of information on existing ones.

Am I gonna need like a proxy or vpn just to browse this site? I want to see what they have on me but don't want to give them information obviously.

[QUOTE=Mister Sandman;52213529]Am I gonna need like a proxy or vpn just to browse this site? I want to see what they have on me but don't want to give them information obviously.[/QUOTE] If you just use it to search then they are legally obligated not to do anything with the info you provide according to their current privacy policy. [editline]Edited: [/editline] IOW: they have the capacity to track info on you, and will track it, but can't do anything with it. Whether you trust them to hold true to their word is another story.

[QUOTE=SEKCobra;52213526]You shouldn't just randomly get deaththreats mate.[/QUOTE] I shouldn't, but at the end of the day, I do. The internet is a big place full of dumb and dark people. I made sure to contact some of the bigger names I know with the info I found out about them to let them know this info is out there and that they should get it removed immediately. Especially some of the controversial people I know in controversial environments - those people are the ones I am far more frightened for. Some loser going after me because of Garry's Mod or whatever is not that big of a deal.

Not on there myself, but my parents and all of my relatives are with extremely accurate info. A lot of this must come from public documents published online because some of my relatives didn't use the internet at all before they passed, but there info is still completely there

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52213527]I have a feeling like 99% of their system is entirely automated. The scraping, updating, logic checks, etc. Would also make sense because my dad had two profiles, one under his actual name and a broken one that he goes by. But since all the info he does is under his actual name then all the info the site scrapes falls under that name instead. If that's the case then it'll only get more accurate as time goes on and it's able to pull and update accordingly. If it's logically assigning that information then a single piece of info could update dozens of records, so it's a little worrisome how dangerous this might get if left alone for too long and it's pulling thousands and thousands of more records and new pieces of information on existing ones.[/QUOTE] I don't think it's feasible for it to not be entirely automated. Perhaps someone is issuing corrections and perhaps people are there to handle removal requests, but the information it's picking up with even the same typing errors or blatantly invalid e-mail addresses I've found lead me to believe it's automated.