I interviewed the founders of Zabasearch, a recently-launched "people data search engine," for Wired News today. The controversial site offers free searches that reveal addresses, unlisted phone numbers, birth years, and other info dating back often ten years or more. Records include those of public figures and celebrities — and, possibly, you. Critics say the service exploits the lack of data privacy in America. Many claim the company has been less than transparent about its fee-based services, and unresponsive to opt-out requests.
The company claims over 1/3 of the site's users are gov/military/corporate, and reactions from law enforcement users mirror the debate over nuclear proliferation: "We're responsible enough to handle this powerful tool, but we don't think everyone else is." And a weird, frequently-reported link between the company's chairman and the Heaven's Gate suicide cult hasn't made Zabasearch's image any more friendly.
But founders Nick Matzorkis and Robert Zakari maintain they're not villains, and that their service is a step toward data democratization. If your information is already out there, the logic goes, at least now you'll know about it.
WN: Where does the data on ZabaSearch come from?Zakari: The public domain. Information collected by the government, and information that individuals put it out into the public domain. Court records, county records, state records, information that becomes publicly available after you buy a new house or go to the post office and file a change-of-address form.
Matzorkis: When you move and fill out a change form with the post office, they record date of move and new address, then sell that to info brokers on the open market. When you apply for a credit card, and you don't check the box saying you don't want your information shared, it will be sold. Personal information in the U.S. is a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry. People realizing that right now as a result of stumbling on ZabaSearch may find that shocking, but the data has been out there for years. It's just a question of who has access. You, or the people selling it to other companies to market things to you?
WN: What do you say to domestic-violence victims, people who've been stalked or others who fear for personal safety as a result of the fact that their home addresses and phone numbers — information they may have made efforts to keep private — are so easily available through your site?
Matzorkis: We understand the concern. It's something we have considered. But the real solution to that problem involves more than removing that info from one database. There are laws in some states like Massachusetts, where the state will go to the data source and force the changing or removal of information. Your address, social security number or other info. They'll do that on your behalf. But opting out of every single database won't fix that problem. The data replicates too quickly in the information industry. You have to go to the core — the state and public information level. So I would say to those people — if you are under threat, get state help from the courts.
Zakari: Many states — including Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey — have a program called the Address Confidentiality Program in which, if you can show a verifiable threat, you can have a P.O. box or non-identifiable address associated with you on all state or legal documents. If you buy a home, get a drivers license or register to vote, those are all sources of public records. But you have to go to a court to have the information masked and get protection.
WN: What about people who don't live in states where those protections exist? Why should they have to proactively defend their state-acknowledged right to privacy, and how can they? Why should the burden be on the citizen? Doesn't your company bear some responsibility?
Matzorkis: There are other sites like ZabaSearch online already. More will come. You said there's a state-given right for privacy. There are, for some aspects of privacy — but not for all of them. It would be good for people to better understand their rights. For example, a lot of people think that if you have an unlisted number, it cannot be legally published or printed. All you're doing is — and it doesn't even work all the time — preventing it from showing up in 411 or the White Pages. By unlisting your number, it doesn't mean that info can't be bought and sold in the information market all day long.
Reader comment: BB reader Dr. Nicholas Coult relates his experience with a paid background search from ZabaSearch. His note here is similar to accounts shared by other BB readers who tried the site's $20 "advanced" search service. The Zabasearch founders have countered complaints of inaccuracies by saying they're not responsible for what shows up — they're just providing free/cheap access to the info in public databases. Not too helpful for the consumer when there's no clear trail of origin. If a piece of data is wrong, and the site doesn't also provide a way to trace where it came from — what good was the $20?
I actually paid $20 to Zabasearch to do a background check on myself…they don't even have the correct information! The DOB is off by more than two years. Other than the incorrect DOB, they have a list of some (but not all) of my previous addresses over the last 10+ years, my father's name and address, and names of people who currently live near the addresses listed as previous addresses for me or my father.
All in all, not actually very useful or revealing. Oh, and I also get a satellite photo of my previous (2+ year old) address.
Incidentally, zaba.com is the home page of Stefek Zaba, a privacy, crypto, and security researcher in the UK. He's quite upset about being so often mistaken for the "other" Zaba. Link (thanks for the reminder, isotonic!)
