Blockshopper
I had a closing on a condo only 4 weeks ago. I found an “article” on blockshopper.com about the sale. The article tells what I paid and who the seller was. The article also lifted my bio and photo from my work site too. I wrote to all three people listed on the blockshopper contact…
I had a closing on a condo only 4 weeks ago. I found an “article” on blockshopper.com about the sale. The article tells what I paid and who the seller was. The article also lifted my bio and photo from my work site too. I wrote to all three people listed on the blockshopper contact list but not one has replied. Should I contact the Attorney General in the state of blockshopper’s hq? What can I do to get this “article” off the internet? Thank you. PS I have an order of protection against a relative and this is why I don’t want my new address on the internet. My relative has been declared persona non grata by my employer (a large institution).
I have not bought or sold a house in 12 years, and yet, a simple search of my name results in my home address appearing on the screen. Click the link and there is all the information on my home and advertising. They are not doing this to us for real estate purposes, they are doing this to make money on our names. They get this information not only through public records, but through other web sites in which you’ve signed-up with your information thinking it would be private. They’re making money on us, and you know others will start doing the same unless the laws are changed.
Hi. Thanks to all who gave me their advice and support. Blockshopper did remove the article after my employer wrote to them and I sent them my order of protection. I actually found the email address of the founder of Blockshopper and wrote to him when his staff didn’t reply. Now I’m just trying to get Google and Bing to act faster to remove the link which has my address posted for all to see.
Another scary .com is pipl.com. They collect every single public piece of information about you and group it into one handy dandy webpage, where basically people can find out where you have been living for the past decade or so, along with former telephone numbers, etc. Basically it’s the same info that credit reports use to check that you are the true you. I contacted them to remove my page, and they also refused, on the basis that it’s nothing more than already public information. They didn’t care that I had a stalker in the past, and reasons for wanting to protect my privacy.
I think finding information about given house is Ok (i.e. who is the owner, what was the sale prices, taxes, etc).
What disturbs me is the nyc.gov/etc access database free for taking with all this info. (I think it is called norpv_02152008brooklyn.xls). This one allows to search by person’s name and see where this person has property and lives.
They did it to me as well. My company’s pr agency picked it up in their media round-up and it got broadcasted to everybody in my office.
Really, really irritating.
Ah yes! We have had the requisite rise in junk mail, and the scam that requests we pay them some amount for our own deed, but I’m more worried about the acquaintance who was “reborn” dropping by to try to convert us.
The information on acris can be extremely difficult to read and decipher particularly in instances where the existing owner has refinanced etc. Our information was lifted off ACRIS and debated on several different blogs (this one included) ad nauseum when we gained a little notoriety a couple of years ago and what I found funny (after initially feeling aghast that my financial privacy had been shattered) was that not one person was able to correctly identify our actual mortgage amount but consistently had it about $600k over what it is.
As NK said years ago you physically had to go to the clerks office to access this info but now it is on the web for all to see. BKRules I don’t think the AG is really going to get involved – this information has always been in the public domain and all the internet has down is make it more accessible.
you wouldnt necessarily need to make the information non-public but you could restrict access, maybe make it only accesible with a username for which you’d need to provide your real name address etc. SOMEthing to lower the profile a bit, maybe also make it possible to trace who’s accessed the documents, but still allow access to those that legitimately need it.
Also, I can see why some information is helpful to have online–like sale price etc–but why do we need the full mortgage document, amount borrowed, rate, etc? Like the unfortunate fellow that began this thread I think most people are unaware all this is online for any jerk to see (as is an image of signature on all documents, lovely that that’s in the public domain).
Speaking of people contacting you out of the woodwork, I know we started getting all kinds of insurance offers (disability, life) right after we bought our place that referenced the fact that we were new homeowners…
I also think the law should be changed but the law now is pretty clear. Also making things not public just creates a way of charging people to get the same information. Government and the public operate best when things are open and above board. I do think it would be helpful if people knew what is going to be available from a public data base but making it non public isn’t necessarily the best either. In any case the law now has very little protection on most information. Nothing wrong in trying to change it.