How do people gather up all our information online to store on websites?

[Dahlia]

There are websites like PeopleFinder where you can usually search your own name and find yourself. The information such as age and location is sometimes accurate. I was just wondering where did they gather up all our info from?

[DunbarPappy®ϟϟ]

Info disclosure (From: B. Schneier; http://www.schneier.com/essay-324.html )

1. Service data is the data you give to a social networking site in order to use it. Such data might include your legal name, your age and your credit card number.

2. Disclosed data is what you post on your own pages: blog entries, photographs, messages, comments and so on.

3. Entrusted data is what you post on other people's pages: comments on other people's entries, photographs, comments, and so on. Its basically the same stuff as disclosed data, but the difference is that you don't have control over the data once you post it -- another user does.

4. Incidental data is what other people post about you: a paragraph about you that someone else writes, a picture of you that someone else takes. Again, it's basically the same stuff as disclosed data, but the difference is that not only do you not have control over it, you didn't create it in the first place. And you might not even know it exists.

5. Behavioral data is data the site collects about your habits by recording what you do and who you do it with. It might include games you play -- and how much time you are spending playing them -- topics you write about, news articles you access, links you click on, ads you respond to, and so on.

6. Derived data is data about you that is derived from all the other data. This is what social networking sites use to predict who else on the site you know. It can also be used to predict things about you that you don't publicize.

(My own; Public data: gleaned from Public records of births, deaths, newspapers publishing obituaries with relatives names and relationships; deeds of conveyance; arrest &/or trial records; and so on.