Websites that create dossiers of individuals

Thoughts on sites that aggregate content about a person

[ncsu98]

Thought I'd tap the great minds of Webmaster World on this one. As many of you probably know, there are websites out there that aggregate content about a person from scattered information across the Internet and compile something similar to a business dossier on that person.

Without naming any specific websites, this type of technology struck me as very unsettling, as the content is being aggregated and then published on the 'Net without that person's permission. The person, if they find the dossier, can then claim it's them and modify the data. There is a method of "verification" in order to claim the profile of you, but it's not foolproof.

The one service I looked at is supposed to help aggregate business information about a person, and be a resource for looking for job candidates, but the information on the person was very specific, all the way to committees that person served on, people in their 'network,' and even a photograph of the person.

The thought from supporters of this technology is that this information is available anyway, but my caveat is that this technology now makes it extremely easy to tap into it quickly and efficiently and have it at one's fingertips, rather than scouring the Internet. In this case, scouring the Internet might be a good thing to help detract those that don't want to play nice, whether it be an identify thief or someone trying to stalk a person.

Curious as to your thoughts on this.

[Quadrille]

Depends where you lve, but in some countries - most of Europe - such files are illegal.

In the UK, for example, keeping individualised information on an individual without their consent is specifically barred by the Data Protection Act.

Your mileage may vary.

[ncsu98]

Quadrille,

Thanks for the information. Very interesting. I plan to continue to investigate this topic with other groups as well.

Best wishes,
ncsu98