Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Naymz: STOP the SPAM information gathering of profiles

I Googled my girlfriend's name and the second entry that came up was her Naymz profile with her outdated professional title. Because she had changed careers over a year ago, the outdated listing is detrimental to her current business. I asked her why she signed up for an account at Naymz; she told me she never did. Just in case, I put in her e-mail address ("forgot username/password"), but nothing came up.

It turns out that Naymz actively scans the Web and sets up profiles without your permission. I'm sure it's (unfortunately) somehow legal, but it's just plain wrong. Someone can do a background check on pretty much anyone, but at least that person's name doesn't come up on a search engine with a link to a background-check company (although I've seen those come up as paid advertisements, but not with the person's name on the advertisement itself).

The way to erase your profile is to click on the "This is me!" button and then the delete profile button. I had to look at Naymz' Help section to figure that out. It's the first FAQ, which means a lot of other people must be pissed off too.

In summary: FUCK YOU Naymz!

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