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Ever Wonder Who Your Neighbors Are Contributing To?

By
Real Estate Agent with Silicon Valley Real Estate

The new voyeurism.  I once lamented that complete transparency is the new privacy.  And in the age of the internet, public records aren't needles in haystacks waiting to be discovered anymore.  Here's an example: a quick and easy way to get the political affiliations of your neighbors, where they work and what their title is, at the Huffington Post.

I popped in a random address, a listing that I was going to tour.  A listing whose new slogan could be, "You too can live just a mile down from the Mayor of Sunnyvale." :-)

Merge this into with what you can find on ZoomInfo and Facebook, and all those federal wiretapping laws are going to seem a little antiquated.  Take care of your personal info, neighbors!  Once in a database, it's someone else's to publish.

Toby Lorenc
Rocky Mountain Realtors® - Colorado Springs, CO
Make your next move your BEST move
wow - this is crazy!  I think as we have more technologies and access to store our information, we think less and less about what we're displaying for others to see!
Sep 03, 2007 10:24 AM
Steve Leung
Silicon Valley Real Estate - Cupertino, CA

You're right, Toby.  There's no putting the genie back in the bottle. 

And, fortunately for anyone moving into the address I looked up, there's a travel agent just a few doors down who might be able to help people get away from the collections agency owner a couple blocks over ;-)

Sep 03, 2007 10:57 AM
New Jersey Real Estate James Boyer Morris, Essex & Union County NJ Realtor
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited, Real Estate - Morristown, NJ
Yah, some of this crap needs to be shut down.
Sep 03, 2007 11:36 AM
Steve Leung
Silicon Valley Real Estate - Cupertino, CA
James, I wonder if donors (particularly smaller ones) know  how much they're on the record when they pull out their checkbooks.  You do something conscious by putting up a lawn sign, but you don't write your name and job title on the back of it.
Sep 03, 2007 01:21 PM
Ashley Drake Gephart
Drake Intel Group - Albuquerque, NM
I have made many anonymous donations to local charities for just this reason. I don't need to be on everyone's list. Once I donated $10 to a food bank and they have spent more than that mailing me for more donations over the years. Yes, they still get it they just don't know it now.
Sep 03, 2007 05:27 PM
Steve Leung
Silicon Valley Real Estate - Cupertino, CA
You know an idea is a really good one when you say to yourself, "Wow, I wish I though of that!"  And I think my local Habitat for Humanity will be thankful you came up with it :-)
Sep 03, 2007 05:32 PM