SpokeNo
Yesterday, CDT filed a complaint to the FTC against Spokeo, Inc., an online data aggregator. There are several services similar to Spokeo, so what makes them so bad, and how are they violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act?
What Spokeo Does
Spokeo is an online data aggregator. They skim information on thousands of people from social networks, not from actual reporting. The vast majority of the data aggregated on Spokeo.com can be found by searching within social networks or by using a search engine. By compiling this information, Spokeo provides the service of skipping tedious searching in order to find data on someone. Spokeo does not guarantee the "accuracy, legitimacy, or legality" of this information, nor should it – information gathered from a social network isn't necessarily real information.
Let's try an example search to show how accurate Spokeo is. I performed a search on my fiancée, and here's what resulted:
Well, the birthday is correct, but apparently, the 25-year-old Caucasian female I am dating is actually a rich, retired African-American male. At least it got the "no children" thing right. But wait:
He somehow has grandchildren without ever having had children. Where Spokeo received that bit of information, along with all the other interests (most of them are incorrect in this case), Spokeo does not tell. Somehow, though, they seem to think that nearly everyone enjoys browsing and purchasing from mall catalogs.
Aside from real-life examples, I've also found that Indiana Jones lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Although I would have voted for him, I don't remember him appearing on the presidential ballot. Bilbo Baggins is kicking around, though he is supposed to have passed to the Grey Havens in the Fourth Age of Middle-Earth.
What's the Problem?
This is all rather fun and silly, but the problem is that Spokeo markets itself as a service allowing subscribers to browse "credit estimate" and "wealth level" ratings of consumers, and even suggests that employers can use its service to evaluate potential job candidates. Beyond these purposes, Spokeo's blog regularly has featured "top uses" for Spokeo, which include finding old friends or checking up on a potential date.
In my searches, I have found that most people (including Bilbo Baggins) are either in the top 10% or bottom 20% of Spokeo's wealth meter. Most people either give to liberal or conservative causes (which often have no relation to their Political Party as listed in a Spokeo search). These and other activities listed by Spokeo can be sensitive items that may be dealbreakers to potential employers currently being courted by Spokeo. There's nothing inherently wrong about aggregating data from social networks, but posing this aggregation as information that is strong enough to evaluate a potential employee is clearly deceptive. For more information, please read our complaint to the FTC.
