What is the one thing we all have? In fact, what is the one thing most of us were given even before we were born? A name. We wouldn’t get very far in life without our name, and some people go quite far because of their name. It’s usually the first thing people know about us, it’s how people acknowledge or reference us, and it’s how some people judge us. Our name is associated with just about everything we do and have. While others, in fact maybe many others, have the same name, our name is still ours and up to us to make it what it is. Or is it?
I have always been a rather private person. I’ve lived in my house a long time and know some of my neighbors well enough to wave or say hello, but that’s about it. I'm cautious about whom I give my personal information, and even more cautious about whom I invite to my home. For the most part, I keep to myself, stay out of people’s business, and like to keep them out of mine. It’s how I choose to live. Except, it’s no longer my choice to make.
Last week I found an invitation to a neighbor’s house in my mailbox. She had invited the entire block to “discuss something important we need to be aware of.” Curious, I decided to go. There were about 30 of us crammed into her backyard chatting until another neighbor opened her laptop and began to talk. We’ve all been outed.
Unlike the mainstream newspapers, it [blockshopper.com] isn’t a site with tips and advice on how to sell your home. In fact, it’s a real estate site that isn’t about homes. It’s about people. Through the data they are collecting, they are also able to hyper-target advertising not just to zip codes —but to actual neighborhoods. This provides an advertising model with opportunities that go well beyond these publications or the real estate market. Blockshopper continues to grow and looks to have a bright future.
Like most people, I have Googled myself from time to time to see what’s out there. It’s never been much. While I have been able to find my name, age, and home town, it took a little effort and I didn’t think too much about it. Of course, I knew people more persistent than I could find more information, so I subscribed to LifeLock, continued to shred all my mail, and decided not worry about it. Now I’m worried about it. Now when I search my name (surrounded by quotes) my home address comes right up. Click, and there is all the information about my home, including the fact that I, with a very female name, am the sole owner. The names and addresses of my neighbors are included; click on the link to their page, and information for other neighbors appears. It goes on and on. Or, it can be reversed. Get in the site and put in an address, and you can learn about the person(s) who lives there. It’s all so easy and readily available, and it makes finding more information much easier as well.
Discussions with my neighbors and rummaging the interwebs reveals:
- There is no way out. The company claims all information (including names) is in the public domain and fair game - personal wishes and security be damned.
- People have written that Websites and blogs devoted to exposing them or gathering victims for a class action suit are infiltrated or contacted by an attorney and forced to take them down.
- People claim to have had their pictures, their children’s pictures, unlisted phone numbers, their occupation, and their place of business named, and links provided to other information (such as where their wedding was to be held).
The availability of such information on the Web makes it possible for the government to conduct surveillance that otherwise would be much more difficult or even impossible to pursue through court orders and other official mechanisms, Reidenberg contends. And aggregation of various bits of information also can lead to more troubling use of the compiled information.
I realize home information is public information; in fact, I’ve searched county records myself to compare tax rates. However, names and other personal information have never been included, and it makes all the difference. Now people can find a person, not just an address.
Blockshopper.com takes publicly available information like real estate data and marries it with personal stuff they find on the internet. So suddenly a picture of you and your cat along with details on your husband's college major are part of an article that also mentions how much you paid for your house.” Joel says, "There's a question of motives. What is anyone getting out of this?"
Money. Blockshopper.com uses AdSense and advertising (including LifeLock – does that make you go humm?). They make money every time somebody searches a name and clicks. They are also using names to advertise their unscrupulous business.
For less than an ad in the weekend newspaper, an agent can list every sale they have ever made, display current listings, have a link to their Web site or blog, build their brand and write notes about actual homes, or even become a ‘market expert’ in a local community.
Blockshopper.com is obviously not publishing personal information for realtors; if they were, it wouldn’t be available with a name search (they wouldn’t need names at all), it would be a secured site, and it wouldn’t include the information of people with no interest in selling or buying a home. Apparently, this is all legal, and quite a money maker.
And real estate research experts say Blockshopper’s brand of real estate news may be the wave of the future. Paul Bishop tracks trends for the National Association of Realtors. He says, "You probably are going to see a number of similar websites."
Concerns about web security are, of course, nothing new. We all know information about every keystroke we make are being compiled by somebody.
New government guidelines for targeted web advertising ... based on users' activities <snip> require websites to disclose the data they are collecting and allow users to opt out, provide reasonable security, keep promises on data handling, and obtain consent for sensitive data.
The boundaries about what can be collected about us and used (for, despite, and against us) are being pushed farther and farther, and will eventually be eliminated until laws, not self-regulating guidelines, are enacted to stop businesses from targeting our “public” information, using our names to advertise their businesses, and putting us at risk.
Some of my neighbors vowed to sue and/or contact the media, and some were resigned to do nothing since there's nothing we can do. Most of us, however, agreed to contact our elected officials regarding enacting laws to protect us, make sure real estate agents we use sign they never have and never will use blockshopper (it won’t stop the information from being published, but it may start hurting the bottom line), and ask everyone we know to do the same. Please join us and if you have any other ideas about what can be done, please let us know.