I found this info on Snopes -- Urban Legend site
THought you'd like to read it.
Claim: Your personal information can be obtained through the Zabasearch.com web site.
Status: True.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2005]
I am sending this to everyone in my address book, and I urge all of you to do the same. Check to see if your name is in this Zabasearch database, which also includes addresses, phone numbers and birth dates. If it's there and you want it removed, send them an e-mail at
[email protected] to request it.
They will be launching this site in May for EVERYONE to see!!! I don't know how our names are appearing there, but I checked my own and a few other random ones, and they are all in this database! Please send this on to all your friends and family ASAP!
To check, log on to www.zabasearch.com.
After opting out at
[email protected] by email I guess the only way to know for sure you have been removed is to check back a few days later.
This is unbelievable.
Origins: Since we've received so many inquiries like the one quoted above about the Zabasearch.com web site, in the spirit of 'taking one for the team' I ponied up $20 and ran a search on myself to ascertain what kind of information could be accessed through that site.
Upon submitting my payment, I was presented with a 'satellite photograph' of my residence (actually an overhead view of a portion of the apartment complex where I lived several years ago) and a message telling me that I would receive a full report within one day.
The 15-page 'Comprehensive Report' I was e-mailed the next day looked like it had been compiled from some publicly-available sources and some automated guesswork. It contained some valid information mixed in with a lot of bad and outdated information.
The report did correctly list my full name (no big deal, since I had to supply my name to run the report) and birthdate (month and year only). It did not include a current phone number for me, only an outdated one. Although it included my current residential address, it also listed two outdated former addresses, two private mailbox addresses, and a former work address. It didn't seem to know the difference between these various types of addresses (it considered them all to be residence addresses), nor did it know which one was current.
The report also correctly identified my ex-wife as a 'possible relative' and listed her name, phone number, and several (former and current) addresses. It didn't include any of my blood relatives, however, even though my parents live just a few miles away.
The report included a whole lot of entries identifying my putative neighbors, most of which were useless because the information was outdated (i.e., it identified people who live near residences I moved out of years ago) or irrelevant (i.e., it listed people who live adjacent to the businesses I've rented private mailboxes from).
The report did not include my Social Security number or any employment information. It did correctly note that I had no bankruptcy or criminal records.
The day after I ran the search, I sent an e-mail to the supplied address (
[email protected]) requesting that my information be removed from their source databases. Their response indicated that sending an e-mail message is not sufficient; in order to be removed, one must send a letter by regular mail (which itself requires divulging a fair amount of personal information):
In order to create, edit, or block your record, you must make that request in writing and mail it to: ZabaTools, P.O. Box 45210 Omaha, NE 68145. Receiving requests by mail allows us to verify and process your requests quickly. Records created, edited and ZabaLinks added may take up to several weeks to appear in ZabaSearch. Records requested to be blocked are typically processed the next business day after receiving the request. You will be notified by e-mail when you request enters our system and then once more when the requested records have been adjusted.
In order to fill your request your letter must contain the following information to insure we create, edit or delete the correct records. After you confirm by e-mail that we processed your request, your letter and the information you provided in it will be shredded. You will have created a record for yourself just as you like it and will be eventually given online tools to adjust your information as you like live in ZabaSearch 24/7.
1. E-mail address
2. Full name including middle initial
3. Address of the record you wish to create, edit or delete
4. Phone number you wish to have removed
5. Year of birth.
6. Specify if you are requesting to create, edit or delete a record.
7. Sign and date your request
A Wired interview with Zabasearch's president and chairman confirmed that the information Zabasearch provides is compiled from sources that are already publicly accessible:
Q: Where does the data on ZabaSearch come from?
A: The public domain. Information collected by the government, and information that individuals put it out into the public domain. Court records, county records, state records, information that becomes publicly available after you buy a new house or go to the post office and file a change-of-address form.
When you move and fill out a change form with the post office, they record date of move and new address, then sell that to info brokers on the open market. When you apply for a credit card, and you don't check the box saying you don't want your information shared, it will be sold.
ZabaSearch does not maintain a database. It is a search engine, which queries third-party public information databases.
Last updated: 15 May 2005
