Episode-413- Listener Feedback 4-5-10 — 17 Comments

  1. Jack,

    Thanks for the show and especially the info on Spokeo!

    I appreciate you looking out for us!

  2. Jack,

    Thanks for the show today and especially the information on Spokeo. I appreciate you looking out for us!

  3. Tried my name in spokeo, turned up nothing. Hardly surprising since I am fiercely protective of my details online.

    It’s worth saying that sites like that get their information from other sources, and it’s better to make sure those sources don’t give out your details, so even if more spokeo type sites turn up there is nothing out there for them to gather.

  4. Spokeo – Yet another invasion of our privacy and indiscriminate use of our personal and private information.

    When will people start to realize the real purpose of twitbook et al is datamine our lives.

    If you want a safe way to search the internet try:

    Stop The Insanity

  5. Your guy on \"A listener from Hemet, California explains the impact of the housing crash\" said he was working with the bank on a short sale, but he also purchased another house before he could complete the short sale? Most likely he is stuck in the middle and he must work with the bank to complete the short sale because the bank may be able to take his new house too. He still owes on the note if the bank does not take the deal on the short sale and release the guy. So he could lose the 1st house, still be liable on the note for the 1st house, and the bank can still take a deficiency judgment against him and get a judgment lien on the 2nd house as well. Not a very good place to be.

  6. Jack, glad I just listened to this show! (I am catching up again.) Question about Spok eo … do you think there is any good reason to leave my listing if some of the information is false? I searched for several people I know well, and some of their information was false as well. Heck, maybe people will see that my house is worth 1+ million and want to buy it for say $800k, a hefty profit indeed! LOL! I’ll think twice before including my name with marketing surveys in the future.

    Has anyone here paid for the service yet? I’m thinking of doing it just so that I can find out all of the info they have on me (and my friends of course)!

  7. Hi Jack,

    Just searched myself on Spokeo and found some things I’d prefer other people not to see. I tried to remove myself but it is asking for a URL to the profile yet I can’t determine that from the search results. Am I missing something, how did you get removed?


  8. I figured out how to remove my profiles. You have to click on your profile in the search result and then it changes the URL in the browser. I didn\’t notice this while on my iPhone…

  9. Still can’t figure out how to take my info off Spokeo. Can somebody explain this to me? Thanks!

  10. @Denny, click on privacy at the bottom of the main page and you will find full instructions.

    @all On the misinformation that many seem to see that is to be expected. It is important to understand that there isn’t really any “private” information on Spokeo and other similar engines like spock for instance. They are basically niche versions of google that use data mining spiders and acquire information on you via searches of the web.

    Hence the info is all basically public but the way they assemble it all and make is so easy to find is unsettling to many.

    So a lot of it is inaccurate but they are getting data from things like say that 9 year old profile you have on AOL or Yahoo and forgot about, a myspace page, a forum profile, etc. They are hitting public property records, etc. On ocassion data is going to get crossed, a piece of info on John Smith #1 will get attached to John Smith #2.

    What is the solution many of these sites are asking people listed to correct the information themselves. While most of us are bothered by things like Spokeo many of the younger generation are happy to correct their profiles and make their information available to any. The conditioning of the media and government on our youth is strong.

  11. I noticed that Spokeo also got outed on the “other” prepper site, Rawles.

    In that message, the guy claims that when you email spokeo to get your stuff “removed”, it’s really just a phishing expedition to get/confirm your email, so it can even more efficiently collect data on you. And while the free version of your information disappears upon your request, the info is still available for sale at thirty bucks.


    Could anybody confirm or deny that?
    I recognize that it is “public” information, but would they refuse to sell my info if I tell them not to?



  12. While it may not be honorable to destroy a house or steal things from it as you walk away, I certainly don’t see any moral reason why one can’t walk away. When you buy a house you are signing a contract. If you keep your end they keep theirs and there are distinct penalties for breaking that contract. In this case you stop paying and they receive their property back. There’s no moral issue just the conclusion of the agreement.

    This is how its always worked, its only an issue now because banks were so stupid as to give loans for amounts vastly greater than the value of the property. If they could repossess the house and sell it for what they loaned or greater then there would be no issue.

    Corporations walk away from bad business deals all the time and hand back the keys on commercial property or a variety of other things. This is considered business as usual and isn’t a moral issue.

    As Karen DeCoster, from lewrockwell put it, “If all factors point to your best option being a default, then walk away guilt-free and boost your cash flow and future prospects, because ultimately, you are responsible for you, and none of these babbling naysayers are going to bail you out or come by to help clean up the mess. Walk away, free yourself from unnecessary bondage, and let the giant banks sort out the mess that they helped to perpetuate and swell.”


  13. @Adam your statement is my problem with this view point. How in the hell can the bank get “their property back”? Like I said there is an honorable way to go into foreclosure but you never in anyway can look at it as the bank getting “their house back”. To say that is well only one term describes it, bullshit!

    Tell me how can the bank get their house back when it was never their house. You don’t buy the house from the bank, houses don’t have a right or return. This view point simply leads people to see walking as just being like taking a pair of jeans back to Walmart. The BANK NEVER OWNED YOUR HOUSE, YOU DID NOT BUY IT FROM THE BANK. A foreclosure is where they take your house because it is collateral in the loan. You are not giving it back, you can’t give something back to a party you did not get it from in the first place.

  14. Happy to say that Spokeo had two listings for me, both outrageously wrong. Think I\’ll let them keep that info.

  15. @Josiah Garber

    There is A Jack Spirko listed in Spokeo.com now, but not THE Jack Spirko, ;>)

    That one ain’t me!

  16. Ah I see. 🙂 Just thought id give you the heads up. I ran my name Josiah Garber, and it came up with information about someone in another state along with my profile photo from Facebook. Thought that was rather funny.