Can 3rd party websites share my personal information without my consent or knowledge?

Question

I have stumbled across a few websites:

• https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/
• https://www.familytreenow.com
• https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com
• www.truthfinder.com

that contain a lot of detailed information about me:

• my age,
• and all the places I have lived in the U.S.
• possible names
• people I hang out with
• email
• phone numbers

I know that I have never put my addresses anywhere online. In addition, they do share information about my associates (people I hang out with). I understand that you can see who hangs out with whom on Facebook, however, that information in principle can be hidden from public and Facebook shouldn't share it(or whatever)

Is there a way to report websites like this? Can they legally share my information with the public like that? They do allow removal of the information, but I don't want to hunt down all websites and try to remove it manually.

Can I report these websites to U.S. regulators?

Answer 1

The information in telephone books is public. so are postal change-of-address records. So are records of the ownership of real estate. So are vital statistics such as birth records. So are voter registration lists -- i myself purchased a voter registration list (in digital form) for a municipality which showed people's names, addresses, and the years when they voted, when I was a political candidate for local office in NJ. It cost about $100. I believe that many states also make driver's license information available for a fee to marketers. Credit records are available for certain limited purposes, also. No doubt there are other public sources I haven't thought of.

If such a site relies on public records, or other publicly available data, it is not illegal. Many such sites offer to remove names on an opt-out basis, but there is no legal requirement that sites do so. This kind of information is not considered nto be "private facts" under US tort law.

Aside from opting out, if the sites provide that option, I don't think you have any recourse.

One could ask the local legislature to pass a law prohibiting such sites, or making them require consent, similar to the GDPR that the EU has. But I don't know of any such law in the US to date.

Answer 2

Can they legally share my information with the public like that?

Yes. This is completely legal.

Can I report these websites to U.S. regulators?

You can. But, they wouldn't do anything because the websites aren't violating any laws or regulations.

Is there a way to report websites like this?

You could give them a negative review on Yelp if you wished.