MyLife Makes Your Life Public

In continuing with citing creepy websites that operate on the very fringe of what we'd like to think and call "LEGAL", I'd like to share this website:

www.MyLife.com

This website used to be known as ClassMates.com, so for those of you who used it to reconnect back in the last 90s (before the days of Facebook), I've got news for you:

They know who you are,
Where you live,
Your age,
And all the other information you shared on ClassMates.com, including interests, pets, and what make/model you drive.

In addition, as you'll see when you follow these steps, they also have information sharing agreements with big sites like Facebook and Amazon, which allows them to search those databases for more information about you, then provide a free snapshot on their website of your personal information to anyone who wants to see it.  They get away with this because it's an advertisement of their paid service of providing a full digest of your life found on the web for a very low price.

Just to give you a demonstration of how creepy this can be, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to www.MyLife.com

2. Click on the People Search item in the right navigation pane.

3. Enter in your name in the bottom text boxes.  If you're married or have changed your name, be sure to check those, too, for added insight into how much of your life is in this site.

4.  The website will display your information on the page.  You can even send an email to yourself...or, if you're into spamming people, this site gives you lots of free addresses to add to your emails about erectile dysfunction.

Now, if you want to actually REMOVE or suppress your information from this site, it is very difficult.  They have the instructions for  doing so hidden under 5 or 6 pages of "Help" menus with tiny text.  In an effort to help shut down this company, here's the information you need:

Contact Customer Care at 888-704-1901.  

Open hours: M-F 6am to 9pm Pacific Time and Sat-Sun 6am to 6pm Pacific Time.

When you call, ask for a manager immediately.  The Customer Service representatives will try to prevent you from removing your information and even tell you that you have given them blanket permission to display your information forever.  THIS IS NOT TRUE.  YOU HAVE A LEGAL RIGHT TO REMOVE THIS INFORMATION AND HAVE IT REMOVED IMMEDIATELY.

When I called, I had to bring up the fact that I was being stalked and that their website was providing the information to the stalker.  They still wouldn't remove the information without a manager.

Just ask for the manager immediately.

And, if you're a lawyer and can find something that they're doing completely illegal, yes, I would LOVE to be part of the class action law suit.