I saw something on the TV news last week that caught my eye and surprised me. I then looked online and saw that a lot of news sources had mentioned this worry.
There is a website called familytreenow.com. If you're doing some genealogy, this might help you. If you want to find someone, this would help you. If you forgot some of your previous addresses, this would help you. If you're a stalker, it would help you too.
I looked up our name and saw that it listed not just my immediate family, but my daughter's in-laws names as well. That gave me pause.
Art immediately checked to see if there was a way to opt out. He found it at https://www.familytreenow.com/optout.
Art, me, our daughter and son have all opted out immediately. My daughter in-law who was an investigative reporter says that there are many ways to find people as she's used these websites to get information.
Coincidentally, Honolulu Aunty did a blog post about this exact thing last week.
I've warned many of our friends and relatives. However, just as my daughter-in-law said, if you just search your own name on Google, you'll be surprised how much information is floating out there. This is a drop in the bucket.
Whatever the case, it's one less drop about me and my family on the web now.
There is a website called familytreenow.com. If you're doing some genealogy, this might help you. If you want to find someone, this would help you. If you forgot some of your previous addresses, this would help you. If you're a stalker, it would help you too.
I looked up our name and saw that it listed not just my immediate family, but my daughter's in-laws names as well. That gave me pause.
Art immediately checked to see if there was a way to opt out. He found it at https://www.familytreenow.com/optout.
Coincidentally, Honolulu Aunty did a blog post about this exact thing last week.
I've warned many of our friends and relatives. However, just as my daughter-in-law said, if you just search your own name on Google, you'll be surprised how much information is floating out there. This is a drop in the bucket.
Whatever the case, it's one less drop about me and my family on the web now.
Well I used it as a stalker and found an old friend I have been looking for. Thanks. Of course I had a real stalker once and now he can find me too. Yikes! Privacy...what is that?
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of this site, but I checked it out. Put in my birth name and found out that I am unknown.
ReplyDeleteThat's a surprise. With our family, it even listed in-laws, every address we'd lived in, etc. Not anymore though since we opted out.
DeleteProbably smart, Kay
ReplyDeleteI will go look to see what it says about me. Thanks for the information, and how to opt out! :-)
ReplyDeleteVery scary!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, never heard of this website. i know our church website doesn't show names of living members. I'll have to check it out, thanks for info on how to opt out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the opt-out info. I'm out. If you want to find my maternal family history, I'm online under Thomas Barnum. LOL
ReplyDeleteShe's right
ReplyDeleteYou can also get that type of info. from white pages.com. If someone wants to find you, it has become WAY too easy.
ReplyDeletePatty
You're so right! It's really scary and White Pages is really detailed also!
Deletehi Kay,
ReplyDeleteThank your for the information, we opted out of whatever we could...
mahalo,
hilorain
You are very welcome!
DeleteThe information gatherers are out there. It's a big industry.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I guess you have to know where to look. How much do bloggers leave behind?
ReplyDeletegreat idea
ReplyDeleteThanks! I looked to see what the site had for me, and it listed every address I'd lived in since I got married. I sent your post with the lines to all my family members.
ReplyDeleteFeels good to opt out. Almost makes me want to change my name, but then, it's my name and who I am.
ReplyDeleteI recently heard of this site, too -- just one of many we don't even know about that are secretly building dossiers on each of us.from all our sites -- especially social sites, probably our blogs, searches we do, etc. There was a TV segment in recent years -- may have been PBS -- with a story and visual chart showing this dark side of innocently being on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI actually have my blog set so the web crawler can't find me. I did this after my son voiced a concern that too much information about me was out there.
DeleteI didn't find myself or Tom there so far. My life is such an open book that finding about me is easy. Also boring, I guess.
ReplyDeleteInteresting info: If you know my middle name and birth year, I could be found. It didn't list so much about me, but the "possible relatives" and "possible associates" section was interesting/not overtly correct. I was surprised that since I'd replied to friends/patients' funeral obit websites, that I was listed in connection with that deceased person! Lots of exes and their relatives and past in-laws or step-parents are listed, but just by name, not connection. Actually found where the 3rd husband is living.....good to keep him at bay.
ReplyDeleteNot so secret Linda in Kansas
I discovered a ton of stuff about my son when I checked his name. It listed ALL his addresses since he left home. And there was a lot.
Delete