I have often found it amazing the amount of information one can find
out about a person using the web. For example, just doing a search for
e-mail address might bring up posts a person made in a usenet group,
or a web page guest book they signed, or even their home page. Most of
the time this information is open, and available for the world to see.
Finding out information about other people can be both useful and fun,
as long as it is kept legal. There are certain guidelines one should
follow
when trying to find out information about a person, or their identity.
1. Never falsely represent yourself in order to obtain information
about a person.
2. Never use means that would be considered harassing or overly
invasive to obtain information.
3. Never use illegal means such as software or certain pay resources
to get information about a person or reveal their identity.
4. It is always wise, when using forums, message boards, and other
places (including Google Answers) to never post another persons
information or e-mail address. Make sure you read the guidelines of
each forum to make sure you are complying with their policies.
5. Never post any information personal information, or e-mail address
about a minor.
6. It's always best to never seek out personal information on a
minor, as in most cases it's illegal unless done through the proper
channels.
Keeping our personal information private is our right, and it's also a
choice. If a person willingly uses their information (such as e-mail
address or full name) on the web to do such things as, post on message
boards, post in news groups, sign guest books, post in mailing lists,
leave their contact information through web site forms, have profile
or Bo pages about themselves, or use their info on their own web site,
and have done any of these willingly, then that information is up for
grabs by anyone who can find it.
However if you aren't lucky enough to be looking for a person with a
extensive "web presence", and cannot locate any information through
the usual searches, then your best bet would be to come right out and
ask them. Either through a polite e-mail, or an instant message.
Often, if your reasons are legitimate, they will gladly oblige.
With all that in mind, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of
Information privacy. No Internet Service provider, especially AOL,
will release personal information to any party other than the account
holder themselves, and even that is done only after extensive
verification. That type of activity is monitored closely. Most
companies log any un-verified attempts to gain information about the
account or the account holder. And they usually have some way of
notifying the person when an attempt is made.
If you are wanting to locate a person, or find out information about
them because they are harassing you, it's always best to leave that up
to the proper authorities.
For reporting a Terms of Service violation to AOL, forward any
questionable e-mails to AOL at: Tosreports@aol.com
More information about how to report AOL member violations can be
found at Keyword Notify
Good Luck on your search!
Here is a list of helpful links that you might utilize in your search
Infospace's reverse e-mail lookup
http://infospace.com/_1_300313__info/revemail.htm
411's reverse e-mail lookup
http://www.411locate.com/index1.htm
People search's reverse e-mail lookup
http://peoplesearch.net/peoplesearch/peoplesearch_reverse_email_address.html
A web site that offers tips on how to find lost relatives, classmates,
and old friends.
http://pw1.netcom.com/~lrleslie/finding.html
Veri Check has a list of people search resources
http://www.vericheckinfo.com/free_people_search_links.htm
Yahoo People search: A lot of times people will use the same "name"
(i.e. JohnDoe for many different services and e-mail accounts, so a
person might have the same e-mail name on a service like AOL, as well
as on Yahoo, only the @domainname part changes)
http://people.yahoo.com/
Use Google to search for a e-mail, name, or partial name, under the
different search categories. A lot of times this will bring suprising
results!
for images: ://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=
for groups: ://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=
If your an AOL member you might find these helpful
Look to see if they have a profile for that screen name
Hold down the ctrl key and tap the letter G
Look to see if they are online
Hold down the ctrl key and tap the letter L
Search AOL hometown too see if they have a web page associated with
that screen name:
Key word Hometown
or on web go to:
http://hometown.aol.com/
Try searching the AOL member directory with that screen name, I
recommend you try it without the "@aol.com" first. Often people will
have profiles for another screen name, that will mention the screen
name your looking for.
On aol go to Keyword member (aol://1722:member directory)
Information on Privacy rights and Internet privacy legalities
Privacy rights clearinghouse
http://www.privacyrights.org/
FTC's privacy information
http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/index.html |
