PEOPLE

CONTENTS:

• ZabaSearch
• WoopiDoo
• Google vs CNET

ZABASEARCH

ZabaSearch (from the Greek "tzaba" meaning "free") bills itself as the "#1 Free People Search and Public Information Search Engine." It searches public records, including phone listings, court records, real property records, subscriptions and more. Its sources vary by region.

ZabaSearch says it does not gather, generate, compile, house or sell public information -- but it DOES sell access to some important information that many are surprised to find available to the public.

Click on About at the bottom of the page to follow a link titled "Why ZabaSearch is Legal." Here you'll find a commentary on FINDLaw entitled "Can We Stop ZabaSearch -- and Similar Personal Information Search Engines?: When Data Democratization Verges on Privacy Invasion."

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20050512.html

The author discusses the First Amendment and advocates new laws limiting the availability and collection of public information. Why a Web site would link to an article that would like nothing better than to see it shut down is beyond me, but there it is.

Back to ZabaSearch and what they're offering: enter a name, and a listing of potential hits come up, showing a name, month and year of birth and address for each.

Click on Background Search and you'll be taken to a service that charges $22.95 (or $7.95 with a $35 membership fee). Not exactly free. The information promised in this search includes a 20-year address history, current telephone numbers and addresses, bankruptcies, legal judgments, liens, home and property ownership, previous addresses, names and addresses of relatives and current and previous roommates and neighbors.

Select Click Name to Search Web and you'll come to a page with your search name filled in, ready to run a Yahoo!, Highbeam, Dogpile, Lycos, A9 or Alta Vista search. Click on the address to get the zip code (from the U.S. Postal Service), map (courtesy of MapQuest) or weather (thanks to the Weather Channel).

Click on Search ZabaSearch and you'll only be returned to the same list of results; there's no more info available for free.

ZabaSearch has propelled itself into the center of the argument concerning public discomfort with the proliferation of public information. A July National Review article (headline: Gladys Kravitz Nation) and numerous others have criticized the site for the ease with which it provides some unlisted phone numbers, former addresses, birth dates and satellite photos of homes, and for the difficulty of users to remove themselves from the site.

This discussion is one we've heard often: folks don't seem to mind when public information is spread out in courthouse files, printed directories and a few expensive and difficult to search databases. When it all starts coming together easily and cheaply, public information begins to seem increasingly private, and that makes many people uncomfortable.

It has also been reported that the free information will no longer be free in the future (will they have to change the name?), and that the site will begin accepting advertising. But since ZabaSearch offers so little for free anyway, the loss would be minimal.

And, as with all such services, the accuracy of the information is spotty. I found some good addresses, some old addresses, some accurate birth years, others not so good. Buyer, beware . . . .

* In addition to the caveats in Pam Patton's review above, Chris Mildner had a few of her own after trying ZabaSearch. Her experience:

Search results come up in no particular order and sometimes the name of the person searched is not the first name in the list or even the fifth name. The intent, of course, is to sell you a background check by tantalizing you with just enough information to whet your curiosity.

When I put in a friend's name and searched all states (he's lived in six states), I got a hodge-podge of results. Not sure what was accurate, I asked him to take a look and here's what he told me. His name (both full name and diminutive, with and without middle initial), address and partial birth date came up correctly in several listings. His name also was correctly associated with several former addresses and phone numbers, but only from states where he's lived in the last 10 years.

There also were quite a few listings for other people with his last name and the same first initial, including his wife and his sister-in-law, both of whom have the same first initial. Several people with the same first and last name and different middle initial also came up. Adding his middle initial to my search parameters didn't seem to affect the search results.

Amusingly (or not, if you are a researcher!), his name also came up at his mother-in-law's address with her phone number and, in some cases, his wife's birth date. His name came up with his mother-in-law's information, but the wrong town.

http://www.zabasearch.com/

WOOPIDOO

I love, love, love this domain name, though I'm not 100 percent sure of its applicability for a motivational business portal and newsletter. In any case.

Rich Lists are collected at:

http://www.woopidoo.com/reviews/news/rich-list/index.htm

Check here for Business Review Weekly magazine's 17 wealthiest Australians (up from 11 last year). Youngest is 31-year-old Nicole Perrin, who, with her husband, owns the surfwear company Billabong. The richest man, Kerry Packer, is Chairman of Publishing and Broadcasting Limited.

http://www.woopidoo.com/reviews/news/rich-list/richest-australians-2005.htm

Biographies of business leaders and masters in business include the usual: Bezos, Branson, Buffett, Gates, Soros and Trump -- as well as some lesser-known speakers, authors and educators.

http://www.woopidoo.com/biography/index.htm

GOOGLE VS CNET

I had to include this little "FYI" -- in case you haven't heard it already. It seems that Google has blacklisted CNET reporters after CNET, to illustrate their argument that Google is collecting too much personal data, ran a story detailing personal information about Google CEO Eric Schmidt. And where did they find this information? You guessed it: Google.

http://news.com.com/Google+balances+privacy,+reach/2100-1032_3-5787483.html

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/05/technology/google_cnet/

Pam Patton

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