MOLI VIEW™

In the course of a weekend spent with my family, talk turned to Google and all the information it collects about people. (OK, I admit it – I steered the conversation that way; I'm a geek) I brought up the funniest Internet prank I've ever seen – the National Legal and Policy Center's demonstration of how easy it is to track down a Google executive.

Another member of my family spoke up and said that this couldn't happen to her. She doesn't want people she deals with professionally to be able to find her at home – no big, dramatic reason, just a personal choice – so she went out of her way to make sure that none of her personal information is on the Internet. She's not listed in the phone book, and all the bills are in her husband's name. (For the sake of peace in the family, I won't identify her.) She said that this gave her peace of mind.

I told her to give me 10 minutes and I'd dig up everything on her.

Impossible, she said – you can't do it.

Using a proprietary database, I got her address from public records – probably voter registration – in five minutes. I also got previous addresses she didn't even remember.

She was alarmed. But I told her that the database is expensive and not so easy to use. She relaxed. Then I told her I could do the same thing with Google. She looked at me as though I were crazy.

I went to PeopleFinders, where I got a few records, as well as a list of people she's shared an address with. Most people would know that the one with a different name was her husband, then search for his address. I found it – as well as a map and some photos – at Google.

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