Important!!!

[Markus]

My Dad sent me this message and i tried it out... its true... you can find out freakish amounts of info on this site...
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Hi Friends,

Beginning May '05 a new database will be available to the general public, free of charge, that displays your personal information (names, addresses, phone numbers, birth dates).

The database is found at http://www.zabasearch.com. I urge you to forward this email to family and friends. Check to see if your name and information is in their database. If so and you want it removed, send them an e-mail at info@zabasearch.com to request it be removed. I do not 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!

After opting out by email, check back after a few days to make certain your information has been removed.

Displaying such information should be a crime. This is really scary with all the identity theft going on. Someone could come across a piece of your mail and get all your vital info.
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Ya may wanna check it out...

[Ashley]

Ugh, this makes me mad. Thankfully I'm not up there. I understand why police and law enforcement officials would need to have access to stuff like that, but the general public? We have ENOUGH going on with people being raped, stalked, killed, robbed, etc. And this just begs for more.

Thankfully, I'm not on the list.

[Jasdero]

Bah. Absolutely ridiculous of them.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

ashley... be SURE yo check your parents names as well

[Sakura15]

Good grief...thats scary...thankfully my name and my parents names arent on there.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

this is so retarded...

after sending an email, i got an email back...

and part of the email said this

In order to create, edit, or block your record and/or to add a ZabaLink, all for free, 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. Please specify if you want to create, edit, delete a record and/or add a free ZabaLink, e-mail address or URL to your record. If you add a free ZabaLink, please include the e-mail address where you would like messages blindly forwarded to from your ZabaLink.

*kicks the boot in*

[dragonshimmer]

My name IS on there, but there's something I'd like to point out.

It's going to register people who have a telephone line to their name, I believe, or have bills. I showed up under my name on my PARENT'S address as well as the address where I currently live.

Unfortunately, this is the same as online phonebooks, guys. It's like a virtual phone book of sorts. Someone can find information like your telephone number a million other ways. I know, but I won't share on here. It's frustrating, unfortunate, and a slight invasion of privacy, but as soon as you get your name off of one list, it will find it's way onto another. All people need now is your full name and where you live. Stuff like this has been around for a few years now, but it wasn't as widely advertised. I don't think anyone should be overly concerned.

Thanks for sharing this, "Markus".

[Nate]

Oh no!

It's just like...

A phonebook!

*mock gasp*

Okay, so a phone book doesn't display your birthday, but it displays your address and name and phone number.

How is this any different?

[Mangafanatic]

My fathers' on there! At my address!


AHH!! This is disguisting!

[shooraijin]

Since, like dragonshimmer, I pay bills, have an (admittedly unlisted) telephone number, and have credit cards, my name *does* appear there. However, it does not have my current address, because that's unlisted -- proving this is what you would get in a phone book -- and the "background check" is what you would get from any credit search or crawl of government records. It makes the information more readily accessible, which itself is a problem, but I think it would be very difficult to stay off such lists for very long. If not Zaba, it will be somewhere else.

I'm very careful about what personal information I give out; for example, I'm not afraid to tell customer reps no who scuffle for it. If they want the sale, they'd better shut up and accept the fact my name is Pudding Tame, or I go elsewhere.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

If they want the sale, they'd better shut up and accept the fact my name is Pudding Tame, or I go elsewhere.

...... ???

[ShiroiHikari]

When I went there, they didn't have my info but they do have my dad's (too bad he doesn't even live here anymore). However, Firefox did pop up a security warning about the authentication certificate of that site, so...that's probably not good. You guys need to be careful.

[shooraijin]

Old poem, apocryphally attributed to convicts:

"What's yer name? Puddin' Tame.
Ask me again and I'll tell ye the same."

I looked at the certificate and it was owned by some certifying agency I didn't recognize. Certainly won't be typing my credit card number into that.

[Rev. Doc]

My condolences to the other 14 people listed who had to go through life with the same name as I.

By the way Puddin' Tame...love your Kreskin quote.

[Fsiphskilm]

Na i don

[Shao Feng-Li]

Lol. It has my old adress. Way before we moved out here to New York. My dad wasn't born in 1944... Let's see, my grandparents lived right next door in Middletown and they have the phone numbers mixed up totally. In one they have my dad's age right and the other they have it wrong... And that's our oldest phone number. So I guess they could give the Chinese people who bought our house a visit. Heh, my grandparents adress isn't even up there. (They don't even live there anymore.) Even if they got it all right and up to date, unless someone is searching for you, how in the world is it a problem?
I guess they could send you packages or bombs or send you magazines when they used the "bill me later" option.

[cbwing0]

Despite having credit cards, magazine subscriptions and a cell phone, I am not listed; although, there are apparently only 4 people with the same first and last name as me .

For those that don't see their name immediately, I would suggest seaching variants (nicknames, shortened versions, etc.) of your name just to make sure. I got more results that way, but still none that were me.

[Mave]

Hmm...interesting, I'm under the list but the address is wrong since I've moved about 3 times eversince then. I guess it's good to move every year.

[Debitt]

My dad's name is in there, and that's about it. >_> Same function as a phone book...whoo freakin' hoo.

Don't tell people your last name online and you won't have a problem with stalkers. o_O

[Slater]

bah, this thing is so inaccurate. I couldn't find myself on there, nor my gf, nor anyone else I know.