Have you ever been grabbed by a sudden urge to look up your own name with a quick google search? If so, you might be surprised that websites have extremely private information about you or your family. These websites can evoke emotions of anger, betrayal, and disgust. How could this website do this to you? Do you have a secret stalker collecting private information on you? Are they going to track you down? No, probably not (unless you’re in the middle of some heavy drama or a celebrity.) How do they get this information that you never remember giving out? Websites such as Mylife and Spokeo collect information from multiple public sources. Both of these websites have a set algorithms that collects any public information that is available online, and it’s scarily efficient. There are many ways to protect yourself from having your information put out for the world to see. One defense is making sure that all of your social media accounts are private and made so that only certain people can only view information about you. Another way to defend against this is to give out misinformation when making an account, maybe even make a fake alias when using social media. If you are still concerned afterward you may have to go to each of these sites and have your information removed. If there is anything to be learned by any of this, it is to be careful with how open you are about your personal information online. If you are concerned about ending up on one of these sites, you should be careful of who you are adding because any account could actually be a bot trying to obtain information on you. Your life is not as private as it may seem, be careful!