Nothing is secret anymore with these internet sites

Information once kept very secret is being made public on the Internet.

Sites like Spokeo, White Pages and People Finder are giving anyone access to criminal and contact information. Yet, the king of these sites is Instant Checkmate.

The site compiles criminal records, marriage and divorce records, licenses held by individuals, current and previous addresses, phone number, date of birth, income level, a satellite image of their home and information from their social media accounts into one report very quickly.

A press release posted on Instant Checkmate’s website even comments that “it’s really pretty scary how much information is in these reports.”

Many of these items are public information, but often requesting reports takes a long time.

Instant Checkmate takes away the wait time, letting those with memberships (which costs only a small fee) search for information on neighbors, family and any random person they want.

This could cause problems for victims of domestic violence or people being stalked, as commenters on the site pointed out.

Many shelters for victims of domestic violence require those they let in to go through a “digital detox” because it has become so easy for their abusers to find them, Aarti Shahani reported for NPR.

“What we’re seeing is that technology is now the new tool to perpetuate that surveillance,” Cindy Southworth, National Network to End Domestic Violence advocate, told Shahani.

Granted, none of this is illegal because the information is all public record. However, many are still very concerned about the security and privacy they lose with sites like this.

Others feel that access to this information by the public is justified, especially for those who have a criminal record.

“If the person is an honest person, there wouldn’t be anything to hide or worry about,” one commenter explained on the Instant Checkmate website.

It is really difficult, if not impossible, to get your information removed from these sites, as this Reddit thread points out.

Some of the information collected is unexpected, like your purchase return history. Others, like credit reports, insurance claims, health history, checking accounts and background checks, may be information you can’t control and is more protected, Consumer Reports explains.

They suggest keeping as much of your information private as possible. For example, don’t supply any unnecessary information when signing up for programs or services.