Posted on 04/15/2005 10:15:58 AM PDT by Cagey
Everything that's great and everything that's frightening about the Internet can be summed up in a single word.
Zaba.
That's Zaba as in ZabaSearch.com, a so-called people search site that allows you to quickly track down the whereabouts of just about anyone, free of charge.
There are already numerous people search resources online, varying widely in reliability and fees.
(There's also an interesting story about the people behind ZabaSearch and the notorious mass suicide in Southern California involving the Heaven's Gate cult. But we'll get back to that.)
What makes ZabaSearch great is that, at no cost, it quickly and comprehensively places a remarkable amount of data about people right at your fingertips.
What makes ZabaSearch frightening is that, at no cost, it quickly and comprehensively places a remarkable amount of data about people right at your fingertips.
"It's extremely troubling," said Gail Hillebrand, a staff attorney with Consumers Union in San Francisco.
"It's a fundamental invasion of privacy because they've put all these records together and give them away for nothing instead of keeping them separate and making people pay to get them."
Robert Zakari, ZabaSearch's president, told me the service was quietly unveiled on Feb. 28 without any marketing or publicity. All traffic since then has been exclusively through word of mouth.
Once people discover the site, Zakari said, they typically begin hunting for old girlfriends or boyfriends, former classmates or military pals.
"It's all about making contact," he said. "It's addictive."
It's also in the eyes of some a threat to people's privacy and safety.
"Think what this could mean for anyone with a stalker problem or a restraining-order issue," said Hillebrand at Consumers Union.
But Zakari countered that ZabaSearch represents only "a natural evolution of technology."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Holy Moly! I put my name in to test it AND it brings up all my family member with THEIR data?
same here...I'm "persona non grata".
kewel
I would be laughing at that right now if I wasn't so shocked by the search returns I got.
Yep, found 'em all.
LOL!
We're invisible!
It messed up my address...
It lists a friend who passed away several years ago.
They have me listed at 4 addresses (none of which are correct, though 2 were correct, though incomplete, at one time) and a wrong birthdate.
I'm beginning to wonder if the only way to safeguard your privacy is to do at least the following three things:
1. Get a voice mail service and give out that number only anytime you give out a number to anyone other than friends/family.
2. Get a mail box at a Mail Boxes etc. and do the same thing as in 1.
3. Register an assumed name form with the county, and conduct as much of your business as you can that way. Yes, its public record, but no one will think of it.
Also, there are books on Amazon about how to disappear. I'm not really interested in doing that, but I'm guessing it may have enough collateral information on safeguarding your privacy to be worth it.
Every LEO with a terminal in his squad car has access to this, plus ALL your real estate and financial assets, on demand, any time.
Welcome to the soft cage.
Search using this method (all small letters)
mary jones
mary d jones
mary d t jones
jones mary
jones mary d
jones mary d t
jones m d
jones m d t
It is in the hands of the serfs.
Still zip.
*sigh*
Hah. I searched myself. They were not very good. They had me listed twice. First was my old address in a previous marriage. Second was the apartment I lived at when I originally moved out. I have lived in three other addresses in that same town since then and they cought none of them, including my current address where I have been for over two years. And the only phone number they had was from the house I lived at for 20 years in the previous marriage.
Not impressed - yet.
It doesn't work very well with firefox. The hypertext links don't work. I have to use IE to use them.
Cool! I don't show up in any of their searches! I'm a complete non-entity as far as the powers-that-be are concerned.
I take that back. I did show up when I narrowed it down. Rats!
Now, if that were only my real name...
Hell's bells, I didn't know there were so many of me! Down to the middle initial.
But those stupid little Zabas don't know everything. That's my old address, phone, etc.
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