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Type of business | Private company |
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Type of site | People Search Engine |
Available in | English |
Founded | Mountain View, California, USA (2006) |
Headquarters | Pasadena, California, United States |
Founder(s) | Mike Daly, Harrison Tang, Ray Chen, and Eric Liang [1] |
Key people | Harrison Tang (CEO) |
Industry | Software |
Products | Spokeo |
Revenue | $59 million (2014) |
URL | spokeo.com |
Registration | Subscription required for most uses |
Users | 18 million (2015) |
Launched | November 5, 2006 |
Spokeo is a people search website that aggregates data from online and offline sources. [2]
Spokeo was founded in 2006 by four graduates from Stanford University—Mike Daly, Harrison Tang, Ray Chen, and Eric Liang. [3] The original idea of aggregating social media results came from Tang. The four founders developed the idea in early 2006, using Tang's parents’ basement. [4] On November 5, 2006, the site officially launched, after attracting an initial round of angel investment in the "low hundreds of thousands" according to co-founder Ray Chen. [3] [5]
The site has evolved to become an information-gathering website that offers various options for finding information about people. It purports to know, among other things, one's income, religion, spouse's name, credit status, the number of people in the household, a satellite shot of the house and its estimated value. [6] The company's revenues for 2014 were $57 million, [7] and as of 2015, the site had 18 million users. [8]
Spokeo utilizes deep web crawlers to aggregate data. [9] Searches can be made for a name, email, phone number, username or address. The site allows users to remove information about themselves through an "opt-out" process that requires the URL of the listing and a valid email address. [10] The firm aggregates information from public records and does not do original research into personal data. It aggregates marketing data approximations into the data it finds from social media and online registry sites. [11] [12] The company gives users access to 12 billion public records. [13] From the Spokeo main landing page, typing in any reverse-search email address - even a completely made up one will result in a suggestion that information has been found, and the searcher will be invited to take out a subscription to see the search results.
Larry Ponemon has raised concerns about the general practice of gathering personal data and the potential for identity theft. [6] When Spokeo released version 4 of its website, KGPE-TV aired a piece on Spokeo outlining local law enforcement agencies' concerns that the site would enable cyberstalking. They reported that credit information was being included in some online profiles and that Spokeo had a feature that provided photos of private residences. [14] Search results on Spokeo offered to provide a "credit estimate" and "wealth level" information, as well as information about a target's mortgage value, estimated income, and investments. Spokeo CEO Harrison Tang has said that credit information is not actually available through Spokeo. [15]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Spokeo $800,000 for marketing information to human resource departments for employment screening without adhering to consumer protection provided by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)—the first FTC fine involving personal data collected online and sold to potential employers. [16] Under the settlement, in addition to the $800,000 fine for Spokeo's FCRA and FTC violations, the firm is required to submit compliance reports to the FTC for twenty years. [17] [18] [19]
A class action lawsuit was filed against Spokeo seeking injunctive relief and monetary damages for the alleged violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, [20] and the lawsuit was initially dismissed for lack of standing. [21] The case was appealed and Spokeo lost. [22] [23] Spokeo petitioned for a writ of certiorari from the Supreme Court of the United States, which agreed to hear the case on April 27, 2015. [24] On May 16, 2016, the Supreme Court announced judgment in favor of the plaintiffs in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins . [25] [26]
The Court found that concrete harm had not been established by the 9th Circuit Court, only particularized harm ("the requirement that an injury affect the plaintiff in a personal and individual way", "individualized rather than collective"—quotes from the brief). [27] In the brief, [28] most of the judgment is based on law established in the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970. As to the concrete requirement from this act, it seems from the brief that the court based its analysis on the chain of evidence lacking whether a Robins's potential employer had used Spokeo to make the determination, and on the failure of the 9th Circuit Court to properly consider whether the risk created to Robins from the incorrect information was enough to satisfy the concreteness requirement. The case was vacated at the Supreme Court and remanded to the 9th Circuit Court for further consideration. [29]
On August 15, 2017, the Ninth Circuit again allowed Robins' lawsuit to proceed. [30] Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, joined by the same judges as before, now found that Robins had alleged a sufficiently concrete harm to establish an injury in fact under the Constitution. Relying on an amicus curiae brief filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in support of Robins, Judge O'Scannlain determined that publishing even flattering inaccuracies could harm a jobseeker. [31] Spokeo again petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, but this was denied. [32]
Spokeo has donated money to scholarship funds for US university students. [33] The company also runs Search Angels, which uses "volunteers who use Spokeo to help those touched by adoption, foster care and other family separations to find long-lost family members while also offering emotional support." [34]
Spokeo and similar services have been criticized because of the danger caused by listing the personal information and physical addresses of unwitting people openly online, and for profiting off the exploitation of personal data. Such criticism extends to the overly burdensome opt-out process. [35] [36]
Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term identity theft was coined in 1964. Since that time, the definition of identity theft has been legally defined throughout both the U.K. and the U.S. as the theft of personally identifiable information. Identity theft deliberately uses someone else's identity as a method to gain financial advantages or obtain credit and other benefits. The person whose identity has been stolen may suffer adverse consequences, especially if they are falsely held responsible for the perpetrator's actions. Personally identifiable information generally includes a person's name, date of birth, social security number, driver's license number, bank account or credit card numbers, PINs, electronic signatures, fingerprints, passwords, or any other information that can be used to access a person's financial resources.
Experian is a multinational data analytics and consumer credit reporting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Experian collects and aggregates information on over 1 billion people and businesses including 235 million individual U.S. consumers and more than 25 million U.S. businesses.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., is federal legislation enacted to promote the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of consumer information contained in the files of consumer reporting agencies. It was intended to shield consumers from the willful and/or negligent inclusion of erroneous data in their credit reports. To that end, the FCRA regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. Together with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the FCRA forms the foundation of consumer rights law in the United States. It was originally passed in 1970, and is enforced by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and private litigants.
Equifax Inc. is an American multinational consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion. Equifax collects and aggregates information on over 800 million individual consumers and more than 88 million businesses worldwide. In addition to credit and demographic data and services to business, Equifax sells credit monitoring and fraud prevention services directly to consumers.
A privacy policy is a statement or legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client's data. Personal information can be anything that can be used to identify an individual, not limited to the person's name, address, date of birth, marital status, contact information, ID issue, and expiry date, financial records, credit information, medical history, where one travels, and intentions to acquire goods and services. In the case of a business, it is often a statement that declares a party's policy on how it collects, stores, and releases personal information it collects. It informs the client what specific information is collected, and whether it is kept confidential, shared with partners, or sold to other firms or enterprises. Privacy policies typically represent a broader, more generalized treatment, as opposed to data use statements, which tend to be more detailed and specific.
The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This option is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as e-mail marketing or direct mail. A list of those who have opted out is called a Robinson list.
Diarmuid Fionntain O'Scannlain is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His chambers are located in Portland, Oregon.
The Red Flags Rule was created by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with other government agencies such as the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), to help prevent identity theft. The rule was passed in January 2008, and was to be in place by November 1, 2008, but due to push-backs by opposition, the FTC delayed enforcement until December 31, 2010.
MyLife is an American information brokerage scam. The firm was founded by Jeffrey Tinsley in 2002 as Reunion.com and changed names following the 2008 merger with Wink.com.
Edelson PC is an American plaintiffs' law firm that focuses on public client investigations, class actions, mass tort, and consumer protection laws. Edelson’s cases include class action settlements against Facebook for $650 million (2021), social casino apps for nearly $200 million (2021), and a $925 million verdict against ViSalus (2020.)
Since the arrival of early social networking sites in the early 2000s, online social networking platforms have expanded exponentially, with the biggest names in social media in the mid-2010s being Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. The massive influx of personal information that has become available online and stored in the cloud has put user privacy at the forefront of discussion regarding the database's ability to safely store such personal information. The extent to which users and social media platform administrators can access user profiles has become a new topic of ethical consideration, and the legality, awareness, and boundaries of subsequent privacy violations are critical concerns in advance of the technological age.
"'Tenant screening'" is used primarily by residential landlords and property managers to evaluate prospective tenants. The purpose is to assess the likelihood the tenant will fulfill the terms of the lease or rental agreement and will also take great care of the rental property in question. The process culminates in a decision as to whether to approve the applicant, approve the applicant conditionally, or deny tenancy.
United States v. Bormes, 568 U.S. 6 (2012), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that the Little Tucker Act, which provides jurisdiction to federal courts for certain claims brought against the federal government, does not apply to lawsuits brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
Google has been involved in multiple lawsuits over issues such as privacy, advertising, intellectual property and various Google services such as Google Books and YouTube. The company's legal department expanded from one to nearly 100 lawyers in the first five years of business, and by 2014 had grown to around 400 lawyers. Google's Chief Legal Officer is Senior Vice President of Corporate Development David Drummond.
Google's changes to its privacy policy on March 16, 2012, enabled the company to share data across a wide variety of services. These embedded services include millions of third-party websites that use AdSense and Analytics. The policy was widely criticized for creating an environment that discourages Internet-innovation by making Internet users more fearful and wary of what they do online.
Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 578 U.S. 330 (2016), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court vacated and remanded a ruling by United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on the basis that the Ninth Circuit had not properly determined whether the plaintiff has suffered an "injury-in-fact" when analyzing whether he had standing to bring his case in federal court. The Court did not discuss whether "the Ninth Circuit’s ultimate conclusion — that Robins adequately alleged an injury in fact — was correct."
Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. ___, 138 S.Ct. 2206 (2018), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning the privacy of historical cell site location information (CSLI). The Court held that the government violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution when it accesses historical CSLI records containing the physical locations of cellphones without a search warrant.
Frank v. Gaos, 586 U.S. ___ (2019), was a per curiam decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in a case concerning the practice of cy pres settlements in class action lawsuits. Following oral argument, the court asked the parties to submit supplemental briefs addressing whether the parties had Article III standing to pursue the case in federal courts. Supplemental briefing was completed on December 21, 2018. On March 20, 2019, the court remanded the case to the Ninth Circuit to address the plaintiffs’ standing in light of Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins.
Financial privacy laws regulate the manner in which financial institutions handle the nonpublic financial information of consumers. In the United States, financial privacy is regulated through laws enacted at the federal and state level. Federal regulations are primarily represented by the Bank Secrecy Act, Right to Financial Privacy Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Provisions within other laws like the Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act of 2007 as well as the Electronic Funds Transfer Act also contribute to financial privacy in the United States. State regulations vary from state to state. While each state approaches financial privacy differently, they mostly draw from federal laws and provide more stringent outlines and definitions. Government agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission provide enforcement for financial privacy regulations.
TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. ___ (2021), was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with standing under Article III of the Constitution related to class-action suits against private defendants. In a 5–4 decision, the Court ruled that only those that can show concrete harm have standing to seek damages against private defendants.
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