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

[QUOTE=wingless;52214717]That depends absolutely entirely on the state as to how you need to publish it. This entirely nullifies that, most importantly states only require it to be published within that state. If you're in CA, you don't hear about your former friend that just moved to CO to get away from an abusive ex, which only requires publishing the information in a [b]local[/b] county newspaper. And now their ex knows where you are and who you are due to the linked information that they should have never seen. This is a very real example because I have a friend who has done exactly that. Different states from what I listed.[/QUOTE] Nobody reads name change publications. That's not the point. Nobody is going to open the paper and say "hey, look at that, my old friend changed his name!" The point is that there is a documented record of the change somewhere, and with the advent of the internet, that documentation is basically accessible from anywhere, not just within the readership of the local paper. Again, this information has existed for decades, and it's been searchable on the internet for at least a decade. I totally agree that it can be abused but that does not mean it's ever going to disappear. There's a very real and obvious need for there to be continuity of identity. [QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52214783]The intention is to inform those who wish to remove themselves about it. Those who are going to use it for nefarious purposes won't suddenly start Googling it because I made this thread. Security through obscurity is a terrible practice. It's better to have more people informed so they can remove their information because the ones who are going to use this for criminal advantage will have already likely found this information on their own.[/QUOTE] I think it's been made clear that not only is opting out a very dangerous thing to do, it is basically useless, since it only opts out from one website of the hundreds out there that do the exact same thing. There is no "security through obscurity" here. You're saying that the security is in the website being obscure, but it's the exact opposite. The information has been out there for ages, it will continue to be out there, stalkers and scammers have known about them long before anyone here, and there is no such thing as a "internet-wide opt out". You'll be chasing these databases nonstop for the rest of your life if you try. What you're doing - trying to scrub this information from these public databases - [i]is[/i] security through obscurity. And for that matter, basically any lawyer has access to databases with the exact same information (in my case, even more up-to-date) which you [i]can't[/i] opt out of. Why this website is offering an opt-out option is beyond me since they don't have to have one. The fact that they do only raises more questions - what are they doing with the information they collect on the opt-out form? "Hey, this dude is trying to opt-out, we know his IP address now, and he happens to have opted out this guy who lives in the same city as his IP address. Great, now we can sell this address as verified! More money for us!"

[QUOTE=Snowmew;52214908]I think it's been made clear that not only is opting out a very dangerous thing to do, it is basically useless, since it only opts out from one website of the hundreds out there that do the exact same thing. There is no "security through obscurity" here. The information has been out there for ages, it will continue to be out there, and there is no such thing as a "internet-wide opt out". You'll be chasing these databases nonstop for the rest of your life if you try.[/QUOTE] Opting out is only dangerous if done from your regular-use IP address, I covered this in the OP. It's not useless because this aggregate site is different because it offers all of this information free of charge. If you can find me another aggregate website that offers all names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, relatives, past addresses, and even possible associates and that isn't behind a paywall and isn't FamilyTreeNow then by all means feel free to prove me wrong. Your information is out there, but this makes it substantially easier to access for people who are looking to doxx, stalk, or whatever else they have in mind. Otherwise it takes a [B]substantially [/B] larger amount of effort and reduces the amount of cases overall. There's no 100% prevention method, keeping people informed so they can keep themselves off of these sites makes tracking this information much harder.

Lawyers aren't trying to dox me. I don't care if lawyers have access to the information. I care if some irate retard decides to harass my parents because I banned him from my game server or whatever.

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52214929]Opting out is only dangerous if done from your regular-use IP address, I covered this in the OP. It's not useless because this aggregate site is different because it offers all of this information free of charge. If you can find me another aggregate website that offers all names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, relatives, past addresses, and even possible associates and that isn't behind a paywall and isn't FamilyTreeNow then by all means feel free to prove me wrong. Your information is out there, but this makes it substantially easier to access for people who are looking to doxx, stalk, or whatever else they have in mind. Otherwise it takes a [B]substantially [/B] larger amount of effort and reduces the amount of cases overall. There's no 100% prevention method, keeping people informed so they can keep themselves off of these sites makes tracking this information much harder.[/QUOTE] findpeoplesearch.com and peoplesearch.com are two examples off the top of my head that offer different/more information. Even if you get opted out, that means you're a "person of interest" to them. That means you know about the site and you found your profile. Chances are, it had some accuracy to it. That makes your data more valuable to them, even if they can't geolocate your IP address. Like I said before, there is no "keeping themselves off of these sites". For a few bucks, anyone can get a much more complete profile on anyone in the US and a lot of other countries, including tax records, lien information, property records, car ownership, etc. - stuff that you don't have any chance of removing. And like I said, any lawyer or even any law student is going to have unfettered access to all of that information as well for essentially free. If someone is really interested in finding you, don't kid yourself - a few bucks, if anything, is not going to stop them. That's not a "substantially" larger amount of effort. But please feel free to keep trying, if it makes you feel better. Just know that it's futile. [QUOTE=Grenadiac;52214952]Lawyers aren't trying to dox me. I don't care if lawyers have access to the information. I care if some irate retard decides to harass my parents because I banned him from my game server or whatever.[/QUOTE] There are a lot of lawyers ready and willing to use those services on behalf of friends and family. There has been a big push in the profession to lock it down for that reason. A lot of law firms keep records of searches but many don't, and anyone in private practice obviously won't have any reason to.

Tbh I really hope websites like this are eventually made massively illegal game goes for that people rating site it's a pretty blatant invasion of privacy

[QUOTE=J!NX;52214997]Tbh I really hope websites like this are eventually made massively illegal game goes for that people rating site it's a pretty blatant invasion of privacy[/QUOTE] Ignoring the fact that it won't be illegal, why would "people rating" be an invasion of privacy? That would be an even bigger restriction on free speech. You can't stop people from saying their opinions of others. If they say libelous shit, sue them, but you don't have any expectation of privacy for stuff that happens on dates and whatever.

[QUOTE=Snowmew;52214977]findpeoplesearch.com and peoplesearch.com are two examples off the top of my head that offer different/more information. Even if you get opted out, that means you're a "person of interest" to them. That means you know about the site and you found your profile. Chances are, it had some accuracy to it. That makes your data more valuable to them, even if they can't geolocate your IP address. Like I said before, there is no "keeping themselves off of these sites". For a few bucks, anyone can get a much more complete profile on anyone in the US and a lot of other countries, including tax records, lien information, property records, car ownership, etc. - stuff that you don't have any chance of removing. And like I said, any lawyer or even any law student is going to have unfettered access to all of that information as well for essentially free. If someone is really interested in finding you, don't kid yourself - a few bucks, if anything, is not going to stop them. That's not a "substantially" larger amount of effort. But please feel free to keep trying, if it makes you feel better. Just know that it's futile. There are a lot of lawyers ready and willing to use those services on behalf of friends and family. There has been a big push in the profession to lock it down for that reason. A lot of law firms keep records of searches but many don't, and anyone in private practice obviously won't have any reason to.[/QUOTE] This is why I said that this site doesn't really bother me and stuff like death threats are the norm for any kind of attention. Now, should it be that way? No, of course not. But our system is so fundamentally flawed that it would require immense amounts of work to stop it.

[QUOTE=Snowmew;52215022]Ignoring the fact that it won't be illegal, why would "people rating" be an invasion of privacy? That would be an even bigger restriction on free speech. You can't stop people from saying their opinions of others. If they say libelous shit, sue them, but you don't have any expectation of privacy for stuff that happens on dates and whatever.[/QUOTE] Because publicizing information like this is dangerous and stupid maybe? and because that "[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0BM4H_i77k"]peeple[/URL]", the people rating site, has been known to be [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVGk2Od6eQYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVGk2Od6eQY"]massively scummy[/URL]? The creators don't care what kind of information they show Being anonymously called a rapist is a thing that can happen, even if it's clearly false. Then it'll be publically known to every employer out there. [editline]11th May 2017[/editline] And why the fuck should I spend lawyer fee's to remove an untraceable comment

[QUOTE=Snowmew;52214977]findpeoplesearch.com and peoplesearch.com are two examples off the top of my head that offer different/more information. [/quote] FindPeopleSearch has outdated and inaccurate information, it also listed none of my associates or relatives, phone numbers, or email addresses. The information it had on my dad was addresses but that was really it. It had two relatives listed correctly but it was broken beyond belief (it listed the same record like 7 times). PeopleSearch.com doesn't exist or has been out of commission because it's down. [QUOTE=Snowmew;52214977] Even if you get opted out, that means you're a "person of interest" to them. That means you know about the site and you found your profile. Chances are, it had some accuracy to it. That makes your data more valuable to them, even if they can't geolocate your IP address. [/quote] ...That's not how it works? I'm not even sure how to explain how off base you are here. If you remove a record from California and you're doing so from a place in New York then there's little reason to believe that information is valuable. Whereas a person doing so from an IP address in California would give them reason to believe it's the same person and can tie that IP address to that name. It's not about geolocating you (which I'm not sure why you even brought up), it's about identifying your name based on an IP address and being able to hold your information hostage. [QUOTE=Snowmew;52214977]Like I said before, there is no "keeping themselves off of these sites". For a few bucks, anyone can get a much more complete profile on anyone in the US and a lot of other countries, including tax records, lien information, property records, car ownership, etc. - stuff that you don't have any chance of removing. And like I said, any lawyer or even any law student is going to have unfettered access to all of that information as well for essentially free. If someone is really interested in finding you, don't kid yourself - a few bucks, if anything, is not going to stop them. That's not a "substantially" larger amount of effort. But please feel free to keep trying, if it makes you feel better. Just know that it's futile. [/quote] So you're telling me a 14 year old kid would be more willing to cough up $10 or $20 than he would be to get this information for free? Or anyone for that matter? What are you even trying to get at? And the information that is pulled from those websites is extremely similar to the information posted here, albeit there are some legal records typically included as well. This information that's stored on TruePeopleSearch is far more valuable though in terms of doxxing and stalking, and gives far more reason to be worried. Again, you're missing the point. It's not about a full-proof method of stopping people from tracking you, it's about making it harder to be tracked. This is literally a system where people can freely and easily search info about you, your relatives, and who you know. If you don't understand why that information is incredibly dangerous then you don't understand the point of how threatening these websites are. [QUOTE=Snowmew;52214977] There are a lot of lawyers ready and willing to use those services on behalf of friends and family. There has been a big push in the profession to lock it down for that reason. A lot of law firms keep records of searches but many don't, and anyone in private practice obviously won't have any reason to.[/QUOTE] Why are you even pushing this lawyers thing lol. There's not some army of lawyers who are out there doxxing and stalking people. The main candidates that people are afraid of getting this information are viewers of Twitch streams, high profile people, and the general populace who doesn't like having their history immediately accessible at the click of a button. If a family friend asks a lawyer for that kind of info, it probably won't happen but even if it does then it doesn't really amount to anything more than them trying to find info on their relatives.

[QUOTE=doommarine23;52214640][URL]http://www.peoplesearch.com[/URL][/QUOTE] I clicked on the Privacy Policy section of the website [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/06ENLi7.png[/IMG] How fitting

[QUOTE=J!NX;52215033]Because publicizing information like this is dangerous and stupid maybe? and because that "[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0BM4H_i77k"]peeple[/URL]", the people rating site, has been known to be [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVGk2Od6eQYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVGk2Od6eQY"]massively scummy[/URL]? The creators don't care what kind of information they show Being anonymously called a rapist is a thing that can happen, even if it's clearly false. Then it'll be publically known to every employer out there. [editline]11th May 2017[/editline] And why the fuck should I spend lawyer fee's to remove an untraceable comment[/QUOTE] Well I hate to break it to you, but unless we completely revamp internet laws so that website owners are severally liable for content posted by the public on their website (this will [i]never[/i] happen) and basically throw out the Constitution, there's not really much you can do there. [QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52215053]FindPeopleSearch has outdated and inaccurate information, it also listed none of my associates or relatives, phone numbers, or email addresses. The information it had on my dad was addresses but that was really it. It had two relatives listed correctly but it was broken beyond belief (it listed the same record like 7 times). PeopleSearch.com doesn't exist or has been out of commission because it's down.[/QUOTE] It had much more accurate information for me than TPS. The information varies. Of course, Lexis has the most accurate information, which I also don't pay anything for. PeopleSearch looks like it just went down since it was working a few hours ago. [QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52215053]...That's not how it works? I'm not even sure how to explain how off base you are here. If you remove a record from California and you're doing so from a place in New York then there's little reason to believe that information is valuable. Whereas a person doing so from an IP address in California would give them reason to believe it's the same person and can tie that IP address to that name. It's not about geolocating you (which I'm not sure why you even brought up), it's about identifying your name based on an IP address and being able to hold your information hostage.[/QUOTE] Of course it's valuable - you're signalling to them that you exist. If you're doing so from a proxy IP (which usually can be identified) then it's likely that the information is accurate. Alternatively, it's possible that the information is [i]inaccurate[/i], and then they can mark that record as expired and request newer information from their sources. Or, if you're dumb enough to opt-out from your own computer (not everyone who finds out about this site thanks to you will know to use a proxy), congrats, you just verified your information. [QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52215053]So you're telling me a 14 year old kid would be more willing to cough up $10 or $20 than he would be to get this information for free? Or anyone for that matter? What are you even trying to get at? And the information that is pulled from those websites is extremely similar to the information posted here, albeit there are some legal records typically included as well. This information that's stored on TruePeopleSearch is far more valuable though in terms of doxxing and stalking, and gives far more reason to be worried. Again, you're missing the point. It's not about a full-proof method of stopping people from tracking you, it's about making it harder to be tracked. This is literally a system where people can freely and easily search info about you, your relatives, and who you know. If you don't understand why that information is incredibly dangerous then you don't understand the point of how threatening these websites are.[/QUOTE] If I was going to swat someone or something I'd totally pay $10 to get their address. And if I was stalking someone, are you kidding? I'd probably pay 10x that without question. Or if I'm trying to get their phone number so I can socially engineer some schmuck at their phone company to send me a new sim card, why do you think having to pay $10 to get that number would stop me? You think anyone who hacked popular YouTube channels would have been stopped if they had to pay a couple of extra bucks to get their phone numbers? Like I've been saying, that information is out there already on multiple websites with varying degrees of accuracy for varying prices - not always correlated, either. You're pissing into the ocean expecting it to rise. It's just a waste of time. [QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52215053]Why are you even pushing this lawyers thing lol. There's not some army of lawyers who are out there doxxing and stalking people. The main candidates that people are afraid of getting this information are viewers of Twitch streams, high profile people, and the general populace who doesn't like having their history immediately accessible at the click of a button. If a family friend asks a lawyer for that kind of info, it probably won't happen but even if it does then it doesn't really amount to anything more than them trying to find info on their relatives.[/QUOTE] Because lawyers tend to be common information sources for private investigators and journalists. We don't have confidentiality for public records. If someone sent me a name, SSN, address, whatever else to look up, there's nothing really stopping me from doing so. (Please don't because I won't do it, though.)

[QUOTE=Snowmew;52215118]Well I hate to break it to you, but unless we completely revamp internet laws so that website owners are severally liable for content posted by the public on their website (this will [i]never[/i] happen) and basically throw out the Constitution, there's not really much you can do there. [/QUOTE] "Nothing you can do just deal with it" is basically the vibe I'm getting here

[QUOTE=J!NX;52215126]"Nothing you can do just deal with it" is basically the vibe I'm getting here[/QUOTE] Well, unless you have a way of us passing a law that throws out the bulk of information privacy precedent and basically ignores the First Amendment in one shot with no challenge, yeah, that's kind of the answer.

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52213331]And the direct link to their opt-out page is here: [url]https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/removal[/url][/QUOTE] Never opt out of these sites. Much like interacting with telemarketers only causes them to call you more frequently, opting out only serves to validate the information that they have on you. It will discreetly get sold or "misplaced" and turn up on another site later. You're playing whack-a-mole, and you will not win. Much of the information on these sites is available through public records, and that means that pulling it can be easily done with scripts. Sites like these are almost [i]entirely[/i] automated. People don't review the data. It's just a bunch of bots trawling through the world. You guys are flipping the fuck out over what is frequently incorrect information. If you think this is bad, reading a full report from a company like Lexis Nexis would have you packing your bags and becoming a recluse living in the jungles of Cambodia within the hour.

[QUOTE=Zephyrs;52215170]Never opt out of these sites. Much like interacting with telemarketers only causes them to call you more frequently, opting out only serves to validate the information that they have on you. It will discreetly get sold or "misplaced" and turn up on another site later. You're playing whack-a-mole, and you will not win. Much of the information on these sites is available through public records, and that means that pulling it can be easily done with scripts.[/QUOTE] If the information is already pulled from accurate sources then there's no need to "validate" it. It's already there, it's just being collected and aggregated for people to easily access. If I have the choice of this or requiring people to jump through dozens of hoops to get the same info then I'll take the latter option every time.

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52215202]If the information is already pulled from accurate sources then there's no need to "validate" it. It's already there, it's just being collected and aggregated for people to easily access. If I have the choice of this or requiring people to jump through dozens of hoops to get the same info then I'll take the latter option every time.[/QUOTE] Those sources are frequently years out of date, if they are even correct to begin with. If you don't want to leave an easily searchable paper trail, start putting your property in land trusts, and get a sealed name change. That won't get past a company like lexis, but it's enough to disrupt a few bots. Again, there are literally hundreds of these sites online at this very moment. Many of them are hosted in countries that do not care about US laws, and as such will not honor opt out requests. You aren't accomplishing anything by opting out.

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;52215202]If the information is already pulled from accurate sources then there's no need to "validate" it. It's already there, it's just being collected and aggregated for people to easily access. If I have the choice of this or requiring people to jump through dozens of hoops to get the same info then I'll take the latter option every time.[/QUOTE] I'll say it again - if I was a little less ethical, I'd totally put up a site like this, see who opts out, and sell that information to advertisers. That information is valuable. There's no reason for them to have an opt-out unless it has a purpose for them. Having a list of unverified contact information is about as useful as those "generate an identity" websites. If they can even mark the file as "someone out there is interested in keeping their privacy", guess what - they now have a list of people who are focused on privacy. There are a lot of companies out there that would love to have a list of people who they know likely have at least semi-accurate information and are interested in privacy. And if they can link an IP address to a name, even better - now they can not only know for certain where you are (assuming you didn't use a proxy, which is overwhelmingly likely), but they can also sell that link to, say, the kinds of companies who are interested in getting personal information based on an IP address. And that's ignoring the whole fact that the sources still have the information anyway. They may not even be scrubbing their own data - just blocking it from public access arbitrarily. They aren't even legally obligated to honor your opt-out request indefinitely - they could pop the record back up after a while. I've told you several times now that there's no "dozens of hoops" otherwise so I won't really bother with that point again.

Lol, it has my age and old city right, but I've never held that phone number and it doesn't have an address. It has my relatives right though. Record removed, good riddance.

Well it doesn't have my phone, current address, or emails, nor my family's, so that's okay. Also has my name all kinds of wrong. Still creepy that it's this easy to find shit.

Wow this is some dystopian shit.

This sort of search capability has been available to large business and private investigators for many years. In some ways it's better that it exists for everyone now, as maybe people important enough to matter might start getting upset with it, but overall the existence of these databases are a blight. To destroy them would take extremely harsh legislation equivalent to HIPAA that forces all companies to be very careful with how they handle personal information of other people. I wasn't on there likely thanks to good opsec from when i first started using the internet but every other relative i thought to check was. Pretty horrible. Went through tor and managed to clean some of it out.

Removed myself and a bunch of my family members behind a VPN. Luckily most of the information was inaccurate, but it had a lot of correct addresses. Scary.

Interestingly, it has myself and both my parents but not my sister. Also it got my age way wrong. This is really messed up, I mean what if someone running a website like this had a personal grudge against you and put terrorists or sex offenders in your "known associates" section? Or put your name in theirs? There would be no way for you to appeal that, people would just believe it.

[QUOTE=Mattk50;52215935]I wasn't on there likely thanks to good opsec from when i first started using the internet but every other relative i thought to check was. Pretty horrible. Went through tor and managed to clean some of it out.[/QUOTE] Usually this data comes from voter registration, phone lines, and property ownership. You could never have put your name anywhere on the internet and it wouldn't really matter. I don't think anyone bothers to scrub social media sites anymore.

I've never participated in a vote and none my information was on the website, the rest of my family has voted and their information is on it but only accurate to the last time each of them has voted.

I don't think this is every single US citizen. I can't find both of my exes and two of my coworkers for example and I know they're all legal citizens. Sorry if this tidbit was posted before

How would it have someone's address that doesn't use social media? My aunt's new address is on there and she's never told any of her family specifically because she doesn't want to speak with them. She also doesn't use social media at all. :s: [editline]oh[/editline] Well I actually read previous posts and it makes more sense now. Still weird.

well, they don't have my info, but they have my parent's and relatives info, a good chunk is outdated and/or redundant, however now that they have my search info, they probably can put two and two together :wow:

[QUOTE=bigbadbarron;52217075]I've never participated in a vote and none my information was on the website, the rest of my family has voted and their information is on it but only accurate to the last time each of them has voted.[/QUOTE] Voter registration information seems to be one source most likely. I went and looked up some of my irl friends and the one I know consistently votes had a bunch of info while the ones who I don't think are even registered were difficult to even find. One had a profile (only linked from his mother's page) that was actually invalid and the other had very little information, they didn't even know his age.

[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] You should contact her if anything to get answers.