January 11, 2001

10:44 AM

Contact information viewable with Alexa toolbar?Disturbing. Anyone with the Alexa toolbar installed can apparently see your address and telephone number, along with helpful information like maps to your home. This information is in the public record, but providing it instantly can only lead to more stalking incidents. You may want to follow Leia's advice and visit Alexa.com's site editor to make sure you're protected.
posted by jmcnally (16 comments total)

I discovered this about a year ago, and tried repeatedly to have Alexa de-list me. Around that time a spammer included one of my site URLs in a spam, I suppose to spread the blame around; I started getting threatening calls on my home phone from anti-spam fundamentalists. Now, that is no fun, let me tell you.

Aren't they tracking your movements around the Web as well?
posted by tranquileye at 10:52 AM on January 11, 2001

The thing that truly pisses me off about this is that I have tried to take my info out and they still list it.

I guess I can't get too upset though, this info is listed on any sites public WHOIS report.
posted by jasonshellen at 11:03 AM on January 11, 2001

Duh. If you're going to put your full home info on your domain registration then anyone can find it. That's one of the first places people looking for information are going to find it. If you don't want it public then change your domain registration information.

This is hardly movement tracking if all their information is gleaned from whois. Its you're own fault if you use your home address and phone number and don't expect people to use it. It's quite easy to reference a city, state, zip with various Web sites.
posted by bkdelong at 11:21 AM on January 11, 2001

Well, bkdelong, who is Network Solutions supposed to send the bill to when you register a domain if you don't use your home address?

While I agree that posting your home address and telephone number on a webstie is foolish, I sure as hell didn't think the NetworkSolutions Database was going to be a nesting ground for information-scanning when I registered my domains a few years back.

I personally think this is further proof that there should be some giant list where you can just add your name to it, and then people can't "spam" you, or call your house and try to sell you something, or send you mail for credit cards, etc.
posted by christian at 11:31 AM on January 11, 2001

Won't happen. People can spam from all over the globe. In the past I've used a Mailboxes Etc address for my Internet-related mail and will probably consider a PO box if I want to protect my home address. I use a cell phone for the phone contact and just change every so often.
posted by bkdelong at 12:00 PM on January 11, 2001

Exactly why I don't use Alexa or any other internet 'enhancements'. The only reason they exist it to collect consumer data.
posted by Mr. skullhead at 12:13 PM on January 11, 2001

It's worth noting that cellular phone *exchanges* are well-known, and telemarketers -- I think by law -- are required to filter them out of their lists.

What the telemarketers will do when *everyone's* phone is cellular goes blissfully unreported.
posted by baylink at 12:21 PM on January 11, 2001

When telemarketers call any of my phone lines I usually tell them they have reached a cell and I usually get a quick hang up on their end. Seems to work ok. For now.
posted by jasonshellen at 1:01 PM on January 11, 2001

While I agree that posting your home address and telephone number on a webstie is foolish, I sure as hell didn't think the NetworkSolutions Database was going to be a nesting ground for information-scanning when I registered my domains a few years back.

At this point, though, it should be common knowledge that the Whois database is trolled by e-mail spammers, direct mail spammers, and information bots like Alexa. Anyone who is uncomfortable listing their home address and phone number there can easily change both (though you will have to spring for a P.O. Box if you don't have an alternate address).

I personally think this is further proof that there should be some giant list where you can just add your name to it, and then people can't "spam" you, or call your house and try to sell you something, or send you mail for credit cards, etc.

There is one for postal mail.

To reduce the amount of non-profit and commercial mail you receive, send your name and address to the Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, Box 9008, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735-9008.

The DMA offers a similar do-not-call phone service. Send your name, address and telephone number to Telephone Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, Box 9014, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735-9014.

These services reduce the amount of mail and phone calls but don't eliminate them completely. Numerous national direct marketing companies participate in the programs, but their use is voluntary.

The DMA has also started one for e-mail, though I haven't checked it out yet.
posted by rcade at 1:32 PM on January 11, 2001

In order to protect privacy, an individual who wants to register their own domain needs to have a P.O. Box? Why would I want one of those? I don't get anything worth looking at in the mailbox that comes with the place.

My point with bringing the whole thing up was that I was freaked out by how accessible the information was. You loaded my site, the information was sitting right there in the toolbar (along with maps, directions, and a city guide!).

I am well aware that you can get that info from WHOIS, but you've got to know about WHOIS in the first place. Anyone can look me up in the phonebook, it takes a little bit wiser person to actually check NSI.

I prefer my stalkers smart.
posted by LeiaS at 1:56 PM on January 11, 2001

Not me- I want stalkers that are dumber than a bag of hammers.
posted by dogwelder at 3:07 PM on January 11, 2001

What's so surprising about this?! WHOIS information has always been public. The user makes it sound like Alexa is "gathering" personal contact info on it's users. All it's doing is querying a WHOIS database and showing the results.
posted by grambo at 3:08 PM on January 11, 2001

I heartilly agree with LeiaS.

And to digress into the telemarketer realm again...

Rcade and anyone wishing to curtail junkmail, telemarketers and spam can try Junkbusters. They have semi-automated the forms you need to send to all the different agencies that handle removal from those bulk mail lists.

I tried this back in August and it seems like some junk has stopped. I still get those stupid 'resident' inserts from the grocery stores though. I don't know how to stop those unfortunately. Maybe the apocalypse.
posted by jasonshellen at 3:20 PM on January 11, 2001

Why would someone registering a domain have an expectation that their contact information is kept private?
posted by rcade at 3:46 PM on January 11, 2001

You don't need to install Alexa to see this information; if you are using MS IE 5.0, it's built in.

Click on What's Related and you will get the built-in version of Alexa. (The button may not be on your toolbar, right click on the toolbar and then choose customize and you will find the icon.)

What's scary is that in the full version they are tracking where you go, what you buy, what you search for and what you type in online forms.
posted by andre_111 at 4:23 PM on January 11, 2001

I agree it's a little creepy, but it's hard to argue that Alexa is doing anything wrong here. A bit dodgy ethically, but the information is freely available.
posted by dhartung at 1:32 AM on January 12, 2001