Please take down my information.
Yesterday, I read about RapLeaf over on Jane Porters Blog. Not all that impressed i decided to see if my name was included…. Being famous (ahem) it of course was
I decided to see if I could “opt out” as its my information and i have no wish for someone else to be aggregate my online identity in one place. Since I don’t wish to subscribe to still one more site I visited their Terms of Service and found out how to get my information off there. Needless to say it was a complete crock of S#!*.
You can read the below email exchange and some thoughts at the end.
——————-
Cut to reflect that times change
——————-
Since Rapleaf has now opened up an API for third Party developers then I’m going to propose they electronically allow me to delete my user information. It should not be hard and it doesn’t require a physical Mail I think Jane Porter has a point that this is really wrong and creepy.
Hey Matt,
I guess your post had some influence… the rapleaf results page reads…
You searched for me@mattroberts.com
Information for this person has been selected to be removed.
The irony of course is that Jane Porters Info is now on there
She’s the one that sent me down this path in the first place!
This silly exchange seems inline with how these people think. They have another website called Upscoop that searches your contact list against all the popular social sites. What they don’t tell you is that after you login they e-mail all of your contacts alerting them that they’ve been searched on Rapleaf / Upscoop, and directing them to visit their Rapleaf profile. Blech.