How to find information about people on the internet

Have you just met someone about whom you're not quite "sure"? Looking for dirt on someone you know who has insulted or defamed you? Just curious to know more about someone you know, either in real life or only online? Follow these hints to ferret out information that will give you more insight.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• as much information as you have about someone:
• full name
• birthdate
• e-mail address(es)
• user names
• interests
• location
• schools/colleges
• profession
• friends' above information

1. First, do a general Google search of the person's name with a defining addition, such as the city they live in. Use quotes around the full name to have Google search for that exact name. Also do this search at http://www.clusty.com, another search engine that sometimes brings up different results than Google.

2. Do a Google search with any e-mail address and/or user names that the person in question uses. Also do this with Clusty.

3. Seach Myspace, using the person's e-mail address, full name, or user name. You can narrow down the hits by specifying a geographic location.

4. Using the e-mail address, go to www.rapleaf.com and search it. You may find other websites listed on which the person is registered, and you can search those for information also.

5. Also search the following websites: www.facebook.com, www.friendster.com, www.hi5.com, www.flickr.com. You may have to register with your own account if you do not already have one.

6. Search www.classmates.com, using the person's full name, and narrow down by location and age. This website can provide information as to marital status, hobbies, current location.

7. Search the person's name at either www.ussearch.com or www.intelius.com to find all past cities the person has lived in. For much more information than that, you will have to pay.

8. If you know the person's address, you can do a Google/Clusty search with that address, e.g., "123 Main Street," in quotes and narrow down by adding the city. You may find real estate information, or, as I did during one search, someone's Myspace account who lived in the same apartment building as the person I was searching for.

9. Search a person's name on www.linkedin.com to see if he/she has a professional networking profile. Also search www.stumbleupon.com by name or location. This site will give you insight as to a person's internet browsing habits.

10. Search blog sites like www.blogger.com, www.livejournal.com, etc. to see if the person in question has an account and a blog.

11. Sometimes you can find a person through someone whom you know is their friend, to whom they may be connected on a site like Myspace. Search their friends list. Sites like www.livejournal.com also have friends listed, as do many others.

Tips & Warnings

• Use your imagination. Think of any combination of name, e-mail address or user name in order to perform unique searches.
• Sometimes searching a user name with "@" and no domain will bring up multiple hits.
• If the person is using a domain you don't recognize (not Yahoo, Gmail, Aol, Msn, etc) you can search that domain at www.whois.com. I found in one search that the domain belonged to the person I was searching and it gave a name, address and telephone number where the domain was registered.
• Search sites like www.ebay.com, www.amazon.com with e-mail addresses or user names, and you may find additional user names (eBay), and wish lists (Amazon) that can give you information on what interests the person has.
• Don't feel guilty. The information you're finding is what the person him/herself has put online and left out there for all the world to see. I was once threatened with a restraining order for finding adult sex site profiles for a woman. I told her if she hadn't put them there herself, I wouldn't have found them.
• You may find out more than you want to know. I once found a person's masturbation blog and sex blog, right there for anyone to read. How embarrassing.
• If you use the information to stalk or harass someone, you may be liable for legal prosecution. If your computer is seized, it will be apparent that you have been looking for information.
• Knowing now that information about yourself is so easy to track down by anyone who is interested, be careful what you put on a website about yourself!

[sherryeam]

on 3/21/2009 interesting information