Spokeo = spooky?

An article in Newsweek, Friends under the microscope, first brought the site spokeo to my attention. It's one of those web 2.0 apps that are bound to bring fear and loathing to the hearts of privacy lovers everywhere. Being somewhat of a millennial, I don't have the paranoid tendencies of most technophobes, so of course, I wanted to check it out straight away! I have to admit, I can see both the appeal of the site and yet understand why it can be disturbing.

The site is dedicated to allowing users to track this friends online content (which is public information since it's is out there in cyperspace) without having to access each application- much like a RSS aggregator allows one to read various blogs in one central format without going to each blog's site.

Spokeo specifically advertises "Track your friends. Spokeo tracks your friends' new content, so you don't have to visit their websites one by one." And, "Spokeo find your friends' blogs and photos that you never knew about, guaranteed."

And they are right. I uploaded my address books from my various email accounts. I found people's (including my husband's) amazon wish lists and shopping carts. I found pictures uploaded from site like Flickr and Picasa from old co-workers or friends that I'm no longer in contact with (but since I have their email, they are tracked on this site). Which of course, made me feel like some kind of stalker type. Or at least like an uncomfortable voyeur.

It is a little spooky, even for this tech enthusiast. That said, I will continue to use this site because it's the only way I can track updates on everyone's online content without having to visit their various sites, which is so much easier for me (just like RSS). And I can easily delete the people that I am not interested in tracking from my "friends" list on spokeo, so I don't have to feel uncomfortable viewing their online info.