The video has been posted at 2x speed because the video is about 16 minutes long. Enjoy!
Using websites such as Spokeo.com and PIPL.com, I found information about my personal life that I wasn’t expecting to find. Its weird and almost uncomfortable knowing that anyone can type my name into Spokeo.com and find out exactly where I live and even detailed information like how much my house is worth. I also tried just entering my name into Google under ‘web’ as well as ‘images’. The primary information found using all search engines and websites was tennis based. There were many journal entries and write-ups about tennis matches from high school and Embry-Riddle regarding win/loss records and team statistics. I also found pictures of myself from other peoples Facebook pages within Google images which was also surprising.
There isn’t much that I would change about my online usage to help protect my profile for future professional situations. There was not anything that a company or employer would find offensive or make me not worthy of being hired. I had no inappropriate pictures appear, nor do I have any criminal records or even been pulled over for that matter. The only thing that I would change if I could is make it where Facebook activity is not so permanent and invasive of your privacy. That isn’t something that I can change but makes me aware of my actions using websites such as that. I have had many friends learn the hard way that things through cell phones and the internet are permanent and to be careful about what you say, who you say it to, and what you share with others.
Landyn Scudder
Upon using the various websites to google myself (read: “search”) I was able to find my facebook and myspace, with nothing too incriminating on it as my privacy settings are set well. I couldn’t find any traffic tickets that I have accrued, but was able to find my phone number from my fraternity’s website that mentioned that I am the Public Relations officer, which I was at one point. But I took that as a rather positive source about myself and decided not to pursue removing it.
I may go back and look at my myspace and facebook in order to make sure that the privacy settings are completely secure. One thing I have changed from a while ago is cursing in my status updates. My dad mentioned this was a bad idea back in high school and it has become a good habit.
Andrew Temme
When I searched my name, most of what I found pertained to what I accomplished in high school. I found a lot of my old cross country records with my team and same with the distance crew in track and field. I found a few news paper articles on the internet about Academic Challenge matches and Science Olympiad meets across my district. In addition to these, I found the press release of my scholarship award that I won during my senior year. The news of the award was sent out to cities as far as India and China. Unfortunately, I was able to trace my traffic ticket from 2010. I slipped on ice going down a hill and rear-ended the car in front of me. I would not change my habits as they relate to social media: my Facebook page and other posts I make are not profane or damaging to anyone. I do think that social media can turn out to be a positive tool if used correctly. It is a great way to “put yourself out there” and interact with people from across the world.
Mod 14 Kevin Acosta
Published April 21, 2012 Mod 14 Leave a CommentTags: Kevin Acosta, last blog, MOD 14
When I typed in my name in on Spokeo I found my exact address and it also shows exactly how many rooms I have in my house and bathrooms. When I entered some of my old usernames I found a couple of old posts I had made on a paintball website and I even found my step-dads flicker account which has pictures of my family. An interesting thing showed up though, even though Ive lived in Florida for a longer time all the websites kept finding me in North Carolina. So, I found out that anyone can find my address and house phone number but not much else.
I searched my name using the recomended sites and only Pipl came back with anything. The only things it had however was my home address and an old myspace account that a friend had started in an attempt to get me into myspace (it failed). The account only had my name and birthday. One thing I did notice was that a lot of people who came up with similar names were mostly from up north, which matches the fact that most of my family lives up in the Ohio area. After that I googled my name and came up with similar results as well as having a number of my family members show up as relatives and finding my pilot information (medical certificate, current pilot certificate and ratings, etc.). I then proceded to google any user names that I could remember. Most of it was relatively unimportant however. Overall I was a bit surprised to see as much information show up as it did. I’m not sure that there really is anything that I would change to keep myself safer. I really only use social media sites to keep up with family and friends, and when I say friends I actually mean ONLY friends. Everyone who is on my friends list I have either worked with, gone to school with, talk to on a regular basis, or is a part of my family.
While searching my name on various sites over the Internet, I actually did not find to much about me, at first. With the last name of Yard, I was getting a lot of results about Eric’s Lawn services and yard care in Hawaii. I had to go a few pages in on Google before I actually found myself on white pages and site related to it. However, if I search my full name a lot comes up. I get articles that have my FAA ratings, addresses, work history, and also some featured articles about ems calls that I have ran. If I was an employer, I could pay a small pay to a website and very easily have a detailed background check done and in my hands in no time.
I am pretty strict on my social media sites with my permissions, but you always have those “friends” that will show anyone anything. I am very conscientious about what I post, as well as what others post about me. I also believe that I will get a professional account, such as Linkedin, so that when potential employers do checks they can stumble across it and also see more of the professional side of me. All in all, I am not ashamed of anything that is on the internet, as it is who I am and if an employer doesn’t want to hire me because of what they see on the internet and not actually performing an interview, then I would say that the company jumps to conclusions very quickly and I don’t want anything to do with them.
I searched my name in Google, Yahoo, and Illinois public records department. Shockingly, nothing too personal came up. My Facebook, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn account were all visible but all my personal information is hidden since my privacy settings are set to hide most of my information. I did find out that you can find my Xbox Live, PSN, and gaming accounts online easily by just searching my name. Since I do not have any tickets (yet) (knock on wood) the Illinois public records did not reveal any information I would be shocked was revealed. All in all, I guess I am a very hidden person according to these search engines and public record domains.
I began my reasearch by looking through the websites provided in the memo. To my surpise I wasn’t able to find much information about myself. There was only basic information like my name, date of birth, and the city which I’m from. Other websites which i found information on myself were avitation based databases. In US airmen data base I found information of my current pilot ratings and other basic personal information. This information was also found in Pilots-Airmen. Find the data.Org. I googled some of my usernames but didnt really find any information of that matter. I have no plans to change anything, I don’t feel to vulnerable to being searched extensively. I currently use social media sites to keep in touch with my family and friends back home.
So I went on the various search engines and found some interesting information. I went on spokeo.com and I didn’t find anything about me in Daytona Beach, but I did find my profile under my permanent address in CA. I found information regarding my address, home value, and links to both of my parents’ profiles. Creepy. I tried zoominfo.com and I did find a profile for myself in the Daytona Beach area. It indicated that I went to ERAU and a lot of the links were tennis related. Unfortunately, I did find my speeding ticket in the Volusia County system.
Overall, I found it shocking that there is so much information out there. I figured that I am too young for a lot of info to be out there but I guess not!
~Chris Freeman
