Spokeo.com Services Under Scanner
April 7th, 2010 - 10:58 pm ICT by GDBy Ranjan Bhaduri
Apr 7, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The services of the site Spokeo have created widespread controversy among the web users in recent times. The site is not very old nor are many people yet aware of its capabilities but a section of security experts are warning that it may be used as a tool for intruding into one’s privacy. The site is far more powerful than regular search engines and it digs deep in the web and extracts detailed information about anybody. While it may prove to be useful for the employers who want to verify the background of an employee or detectives, the tool may be used by malicious hackers for stealing credit card information and other types of sensitive data from others.
The site clearly use different search algorithm compared to the trusted search engines. It may reveal personal details of a person to others like photos and hobbies and old addresses. It goes through real estate sites, phone directories, marketing surveys and even the social networking sites to trace the details of a person. The danger is that the person may not even come to know that his private information is exposed to others he does not know.
However, it is not that the site always provides accurate information. No matter if the website brings out correct data or not, a lot of people are not okay with the idea of their personal information being divulged to others. To use the service a person needs to pay the site $3 per month. However, security experts are worried about the possibility of this site getting used for wrong purposes.
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Tags: capabilities, controversy, credit card information, detectives, different search algorithm, divulged, hobbies, malicious hackers, marketing, phone directories, photos, real estate, scanner, search engines, security experts, sensitive data, social networking sites, surveys, web users