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The author of this blog, David T.S. Fraser, is a Canadian privacy lawyer who practices with the firm of McInnes Cooper. He is the author of the Physicians' Privacy Manual. He has a national and international practice advising corporations and individuals on matters related to Canadian privacy laws.

For full contact information and a brief bio, please see David's profile.

Please note that I am only able to provide legal advice to clients. I am not able to provide free legal advice. Any unsolicited information sent to David Fraser cannot be considered to be solicitor-client privileged.

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The views expressed herein are solely the author's and should not be attributed to his employer or clients. Any postings on legal issues are provided as a public service, and do not constitute solicitation or provision of legal advice. The author makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained herein or linked to. Nothing herein should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent counsel.

This web site is presented for informational purposes only. These materials do not constitute legal advice and do not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and David T.S. Fraser. If you are seeking specific advice related to Canadian privacy law or PIPEDA, contact the author, David T.S. Fraser.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Taking "googling yourself" to the next level

Rob Hyndman sent me a link yesterday to an article in the Globe and Mail about a service called Zoominfo:

Globetechnology: Startup helps control personal info on Web:
"...The practice of typing your name into an Internet search engine and seeing what pops up is now common, but the results can be unpredictable. The Internet holds surprising amounts of personal information between its ever-expanding corners, and some of it may be outdated, inaccurate or embarrassing.
ZoomInfo's computers have compiled individual Web profiles of 25 million people, summarizing what the Web publicly says about each person. The service, launched Monday, allows Web surfers to search for their profile, then change it for free...."

It looks like it scrapes the internet for information about people and compiles it into one handy-dandy place. I put in my name and was surprised about what it had to say about me. Thankfully, most of it was positive, but it was also a bit scary. I put my wife's name and it knew all about her too, based on media interview she had done at the beginning of the year. It says you can control what is in it, but I doubt too many people will use that feature. I also wonder how they authenticate people. Can they tell the two hundred David Frasers apart?

You can even look up by "company". The Central Intelligence Agency may have some concerns about this ... ZoomInfo Search: central intelligence agency. Or the National Security Agency ... ZoomInfo Search: national security agency.

Labels: information breaches