I don't know how you got informations from facebook but my name and pictures are for facebook use only, I don't want them to be seen by everybody on the web, it's private. Please remove me from spoke as soon as possible. Thank you.
I don't know how you get private information from facebook but my name and pictures are for facebook use only, I don't want them to be seen by everybody on the web, it's private. Please remove me from spoke as soon as possible. Thank you.
8
people have this problem
I have this problem, too!
Tell me when someone solves it.
The more people who report this problem, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who report this problem, the more it gets noticed.
The best solutions from everyone
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Ok guys, I have a little story/metaphor for you. It's about "the Internet".
Sab, Maria, J.O.D., Charles--
You are in a mall. It's a very crowded mall. There are lots of people milling around. You are wearing a name tag. You chose what to put on your name tag. My name tag reads "catgofire". Your name tag might also include other information, such as your real name, your age, or what TV shows you like to watch. Anything, really. Sometimes my name tag reads "Justin Brown, male, 20, likes House and The Office, lives in Pittsburgh PA".
This mall has a lot of stores. You can change your name tag when you enter each store, but most people choose to just keep their name tag the same in all stores-- it's easier that way. All guests who enter the store are required to sign a guestbook. They can sign it however they'd like, and it's usually just with the information that's on their name tag.
Remember that through all of this, you are free to decide what to do. You don't even have to enter the mall if you don't want to. You can change your name tag as often as you like, and you can also put completely false information on your name tag. It's your choice to enter stores, but most stores have the policy that once you've signed their guestbook, you cannot easily remove your entry. So keep this in mind when entering stores.
This mall is not only for shopping and entertainment... it's become a social sensation where people like to just hang out with their friends and meet new people. But there are so many people in the mall, it's really hard sometimes to find who you're looking for. Enter Spock. Spock is this really smart guy who has gone around and read all the guestbooks and memorized their information. He knows this won't be a problem because the people who signed the guestbook /chose/ to do so with information they /chose/ to share. I tell Spock that I'm looking for my classmates from "Grayslake high school". *Poof*! Spock shows me where they are, and maybe even their pictures if they /chose/ to leave one in a guestbook. I thank Spock, because I wouldn't have found these people otherwise.
But now I hear a ruckus and I look over to see people trying to start a fight with Spock! "What has Spock done?" I think to myself, "Has he broken into someone's home and stolen their information? Has he taken something from someone without their consent and put it on display?" Spock sees me watching and knows what I'm thinking. "That's impossible!" Spock yells. "I can't leave this mall! I can't even read name tags! All I can do is read guestbooks!" "Strange," I think, "These people are mad at Spock for reading their guestbook entry? The entry they wrote themselves, with full knowledge that it was a guestbook and not a diary? What's wrong here?"
I think what's wrong is that some guestbooks give the illusion of being a diary. Not all guestbooks have big warnings that say "This is public information! Do not write anything here that you don't want everyone to know!" And maybe they should. But Spock has no way of discerning that. He just reads their content.
5 people say
this solves the problem
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Maria and Sab,
Spock is only cataloging what is already on the web, which you ostensibly have control over.
To remove your public Facebook search listing (and prevent search services like Spock and Google from indexing you), go to http://facebook.com/privacy.php?view=... and uncheck the check box under "My public search listing". You may also want to restrict the option under "Which Facebook users can find me in search?" if you want to prevent random people from searching for you.
3 people say
this solves the problem
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You guys seriously have a terrible site. I want to unregister from spock because you signed me up automatically through some other facebook app without asking me; and then I find out that the method to remove myself from registration is buried in the help section with a completely unintuitive method. I have to flag myself and comment the words 'delete account' ??? How about a simple button under settings? And then I find out that it I still come up on the search and I can't completely remove myself without emailing someone who runs the site, and even then it will probably be dropped right back in the next time you index the web. So I come to see that others are complaining too, and click 'I agree with this question' on one of them and you RE-REGISTER me again just because I want to comment that you guys suck. Really guys, even for a beta this is horrible.
I’m very very angry at spock.
3 people say
this solves the problem
Create a customer community for your own organization
Plans starting at $19/month
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Inappropriate?If you have an account with Spock, you can vote or flag down those pictures by clicking on the blue triangle to the right of them.
Spock suggests that you make private your online profiles so that it doesn't crawl them in the future. -
Inappropriate?my profile is private, it's only available to few people on facebook so there is no reason for my information to be on spock. I don't find my picture when i type my name on google so tehre is no reason to find it on spock... I don't have an account and don't want to have one. I want my information and pic to be removed, those are my information, my picture, it's not public at all and you have no right upon them.
2 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Spock is more a search engine than a community. In contrast to other search engines it gives you the control on your search result. I suggest to everyone to register to be notified when information on you is published and have the possibility to remove or correct it. Google does not offer you this choice.
The trouble is. Even if Spock removes your profile now there is no guarantee that it will not be indexed again. So having control on your search results by registering is the solution I'd advice.
2 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?You guys seriously have a terrible site. I want to unregister from spock because you signed me up automatically through some other facebook app without asking me; and then I find out that the method to remove myself from registration is buried in the help section with a completely unintuitive method. I have to flag myself and comment the words 'delete account' ??? How about a simple button under settings? And then I find out that it I still come up on the search and I can't completely remove myself without emailing someone who runs the site, and even then it will probably be dropped right back in the next time you index the web. So I come to see that others are complaining too, and click 'I agree with this question' on one of them and you RE-REGISTER me again just because I want to comment that you guys suck. Really guys, even for a beta this is horrible.
I’m very very angry at spock.
3 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?As far as I know Spock does not collect data by means of some Facebook apps. It just collects publicly available information like anyone could do with access to the searched web site.
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?I have the same problem. I don`t know why my pictures appears on your web. I'm also very angry and I would like to know what I have to do to removed it.
I’m very very angry
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Inappropriate?Maria,
You most likely have a public facebook profile but are unaware. You should be able to set it as private in your settings page. Keep in mind that just because your picture is visible doesn't mean that people can see your entire Facebook Profile. WIth that in mind you may want to consider enhancing your Spock search result so that if a friend is looking for you it increases the chance they'll be able to find you.
As far as Facebook Applications are concerned, Spock does have a few but they all clearly state that signing up will link you to a Spock Search result. I hope this helps -
Inappropriate?Maria and Sab,
Spock is only cataloging what is already on the web, which you ostensibly have control over.
To remove your public Facebook search listing (and prevent search services like Spock and Google from indexing you), go to http://facebook.com/privacy.php?view=... and uncheck the check box under "My public search listing". You may also want to restrict the option under "Which Facebook users can find me in search?" if you want to prevent random people from searching for you.
3 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Spock is probably the only search engine that makes you register to perform a certain type of search.
Of my own e-mail address for example. Gotta register to search by email.
Spock, you're not treating people with respect and your entire model for involving people in their own identities...through you...is flawed to its amoral core.
Here's what I want as a user:
All data associated with my email address dropped from your site without my registration. This is something that Rapleaf currently offers and I've chosen to take advantage of it.
Why can't you do the same?
2 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?While that is a feature that Spock could, maybe should, consider to implement, I doubt that one can remove their own search results from all the search engines available. The only way to hide your information from unwanted eyes is to restrict access to it's source. In the cases mentioned in the thread that would be Facebook.
Spock just informs you that there is freely available information on you in the web - visible for all. Don't beat the messenger if you don't like the message.
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?I have removed all my pictures on Facebook and I don`t know why my pic appears on your web. Could anyone tell what I must do, please?.
2 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Maria,
Please make sure that your Facebook profile is set to private. By removing your picture from Facebook you don't ensure that you won't be reindexed. You should then claim your search result and flag it writing "delete me" in the comments field. -
Inappropriate?I shouldn't be required to modify my behavior to counter the actions of Spock. Keeping this information private from Spock's service should be an option for all non-registered users.
2 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Ok guys, I have a little story/metaphor for you. It's about "the Internet".
Sab, Maria, J.O.D., Charles--
You are in a mall. It's a very crowded mall. There are lots of people milling around. You are wearing a name tag. You chose what to put on your name tag. My name tag reads "catgofire". Your name tag might also include other information, such as your real name, your age, or what TV shows you like to watch. Anything, really. Sometimes my name tag reads "Justin Brown, male, 20, likes House and The Office, lives in Pittsburgh PA".
This mall has a lot of stores. You can change your name tag when you enter each store, but most people choose to just keep their name tag the same in all stores-- it's easier that way. All guests who enter the store are required to sign a guestbook. They can sign it however they'd like, and it's usually just with the information that's on their name tag.
Remember that through all of this, you are free to decide what to do. You don't even have to enter the mall if you don't want to. You can change your name tag as often as you like, and you can also put completely false information on your name tag. It's your choice to enter stores, but most stores have the policy that once you've signed their guestbook, you cannot easily remove your entry. So keep this in mind when entering stores.
This mall is not only for shopping and entertainment... it's become a social sensation where people like to just hang out with their friends and meet new people. But there are so many people in the mall, it's really hard sometimes to find who you're looking for. Enter Spock. Spock is this really smart guy who has gone around and read all the guestbooks and memorized their information. He knows this won't be a problem because the people who signed the guestbook /chose/ to do so with information they /chose/ to share. I tell Spock that I'm looking for my classmates from "Grayslake high school". *Poof*! Spock shows me where they are, and maybe even their pictures if they /chose/ to leave one in a guestbook. I thank Spock, because I wouldn't have found these people otherwise.
But now I hear a ruckus and I look over to see people trying to start a fight with Spock! "What has Spock done?" I think to myself, "Has he broken into someone's home and stolen their information? Has he taken something from someone without their consent and put it on display?" Spock sees me watching and knows what I'm thinking. "That's impossible!" Spock yells. "I can't leave this mall! I can't even read name tags! All I can do is read guestbooks!" "Strange," I think, "These people are mad at Spock for reading their guestbook entry? The entry they wrote themselves, with full knowledge that it was a guestbook and not a diary? What's wrong here?"
I think what's wrong is that some guestbooks give the illusion of being a diary. Not all guestbooks have big warnings that say "This is public information! Do not write anything here that you don't want everyone to know!" And maybe they should. But Spock has no way of discerning that. He just reads their content.
5 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Yes! That's the problem at it's core: Spock operates fundamentally as a bully with a lack of respect for the people it profits from. The language and logic Spock uses here in communicating with people is very similar to the language and logic la Cosa Nostra uses with the poor defenseless neighborhood shopkeepers in "The Godfather:" "Form a relationship with us on our terms doing what we ask and we'll give you protection in return. Sure, it's protection from *us* but we think you'll find this an offer you can't refuse. Now stop thinking for yourself and do as we say."
It's not just the injury that's wrong, it's the insult embedded in their framing of the situation: they pretend they're doing you a big favor as they racketeer your money/attention.
This approach is built upon a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of online behavior. Fortunately it won't last.
I’m annoyed
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Inappropriate?I like catgofire's metaphor much better.
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Inappropriate?Me too... I don't think he read it.
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Inappropriate?both of you work for Spock. shouldn't you be listed as representatives?
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?I don't work for Spock.
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Inappropriate?so you do their PR for free?
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Inappropriate?I... explain things to people on GetSatisfaction.com ...for free... And I usually don't charge people when I offer my opinion on something. So yes and no. I don't do their PR, but I do it for free.
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Inappropriate?To "ILoveSpock:" I *did* read the mall metaphor. Of course you prefer it because it's a PR piece that presents Spock as a selfless superhero, and you work for Spock.
I’m not surprised
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Inappropriate?Disrupsean,
The reason why I like catgofires metaphor better is because in addition to helping to explain Spock, it also helps to explain why people need to read the fine print before signing up for something. If you want to be on Facebook that's great. If you want to be on Facebook, but not on Yahoo, Google, Spock, etc- which connect people to a persons Facebook profile-then make your Facebook profile private. -
Inappropriate?Funny I thought "Spock" was Spoke and I was about to chime in with info harvesting complaints. I guess that's another thread ;)
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Inappropriate?"remove me from spoke as soon as possible"
no one noticed this until now, lol. -
Inappropriate?guys, I think this could be a logical problem- to REMOVE from Spock anybody. it's possible to close the account, but remove from a Web 2.0 crowler- what does it mean for you? try to think about.
if I ask Google to remove me from Google? all my pages? then from images.google.com all my images- will this work? Google crowls what's available on the PUBLIC web. In a similar way Spock is crowling the Web 2.0 (as well as Web), so if there is something about you on Web 2.0 and it's for PUBLIC use- how it could be "deleted"?
sorry guys, it's the first time you meet a crowler? Naymz makes the same, zoominfo makes this, ppl.com makes it- any Web/ Web 2.0 catalog makes this!
the advantage of Spock is that you may join and vote down any information you don't like to be shown on Spock. so you have CONTROL over your Digital Online Identity. Unlike those 1.0 people search engines that just show you the info and .... there is nobody to ask "close my account".
So guys I think the problem is in your understanding of what the Digital Identity Management is. it's not your problem with Spock.
2 people say
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Spock takes public profiles, aggregates them into a spock profile and then holds it captive until you register to manage it.
i don't have any interest in doing that and I want the option to opt out of Spock, much like what RapLeaf has offered.
the identity management features of Spock don't appeal to me because making my data more accurate only benefits Spock and whoever they intend to share my info with. -
Inappropriate?"...whoever they intend to share my info with" -- They intend to share it with everyone, just as your /public/ profiles are shared with everyone.
"Spock takes public profiles...". Thank you, end of discussion. Seriously.
I’m flabbergasted
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Inappropriate?"I don't work for Spock."
http://www.spock.com/Justin-Brown-Mk3...
You should be listed as an Official Representative.
This can't go on any more little buddy.
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Inappropriate?Haha... I was waiting for you to bring that up.
I am in no way an Official Representative. I don't work for Spock. I'm a college student -- I am planning to work there this summer as an intern. I have never talked to anyone from Spock about this website, or this issue in general. I also have nothing to gain from posting my opinion here, and nothing to lose from not posting it. The views I express in no way represent Spock or its employees.
If you look on my page, you'll see that this is the only topic on GetSatisfaction that I've ever contributed to. It's something that I think a lot of people misunderstand, and something that this thread has caused me to think deeply about. I am choosing to work for Spock in the future because I hold these views, and not the other way around.
If you want to use the fact that I am going to intern for Spock this summer to discredit what I've said above, you're free to do that. But you should know: it doesn't. You said it yourself in your last reply. It's all public.
There's a comment on my blog that I think you'd like (it agrees with you). It raises some interesting points:
http://blog.catgofire.com/2008/2/21/w...
I can't believe you linked to my Spock profile. That's private. ;)
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?J.O.D.,
Justin worked your ass. HAHAHAHA.
J.O.D., since you spend so much time talking about Spock, why don't you interview for a position. Check out: http://www.spock.com/jobs.
You'll need to send it your resume. Wait, Spock probably has your LinkedIn profile. -
Inappropriate?I'm having the same problem. If I had an account that allowed my full name & everything to be public then that's one thing, but the information the Spock is displaying is NOT PUBLIC!!!! I take lots of steps to keep my info private; all of my blog entries are friends only, I don't mention my last name- usually not even my first name- ANYWHERE on the site, etc. Yet Spock thinks nothing of putting it out there without my knowledge. I've jumped through the necessary hoops of having my information removed but it's still there. Any ideas on how long it should take? If it takes too long then I'd like to get on the phone with somebody....
I’m !#$&%*!#& mad
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?If it's not public, how did Spock get it? It's not like Spock broke into your house and stole your information... Everything on Spock is from somewhere else (public) on the Internet.
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Again- it's not always public info. My first & last name managed to get on Spock even though I have NEVER EVER had them publicly available on Myspace, which Spock says was the source. And like I've said before, requiring people to register for Spock in order for them to have their information removed is just stupid. -
Again- if it's not public, how did Spock get it? If you go to your page and click on the blue triangle next to your name, a little "vote" window will pop up. If you click on the "who voted" link in that box, it will tell you who added your name. If the only name there is "spock robot" or something similar, your full name was somewhere on the Internet and it was added automatically (no human interaction). If there's a name there, then that person is who added your name, not Spock. Seriously... Spock cannot acquire private information on its own... it's impossible. Think about it. -
(2nd try. Couldn't tell if first posted. They didn't ask for validation, etc.)
Catgofire, you are a wise-ass. Nobody likes a wise-ass. And unfortunately for you, you are not wise, which just makes you an ass.
Catgofire says:
"If it's not public, how did Spock get it? It's not like Spock broke into your house and stole your information"
How could Spock get info that's not public? By taking it from private sites, you idiot. No one here should be presuming that what Spock is doing is ethical. Here's one way Spock could obtain private info about individuals. They code algorithms that correlate info publicly associated with someone with similar info associated with someone whose identity is private. If the correlation between the two sets of info matches to a sufficiently high degree, they can make a probabilistic assumption that the private someone is the same person as the other public someone. Easy as pie. What do you think they employ all their scientists for?
Catgofire also said:
"... Everything on Spock is from somewhere else (public) on the Internet."
This is of course false, and easy to demonstrate as such. To test whether info on Spock is public, just copy a statistically improbable phrase from the suspected private info on a Spock page and Google it. If Google ONLY shows that phrase on the Spock page you copied it from, then obviously Spock is getting the info from someplace that you, a member of the public, can't get it from. Such info then is clearly not public info.
Somebody needs to file a class-action lawsuit and shut these MFs down. -
LetsSueSpock: What I'm asking is, how would Spock take information from private sites? They're private -- it's not like Spock has an all-access pass to the Internet. When it crawls the Internet, it's just like you surfing it, but faster. One scenario that could reflect what you're talking about is if a public profile has been recently privatized. Say I had a MySpace profile that was public, and now I make that page private. Spock will have it there until it crawls MySpace again and sees that the profile has become private. There are two actions I can take at this point: if the profile is mine, I can request that it be taken down. If not, I can rest assured that Spock is working hard to refresh its index and take care of the problem. If you have an actual example of what you mentioned that you don't think falls into this scenario, I'd be interested to see it. -
When I say "private" I also include publicly available info that is not associated with the identity of the individual it's about. For example, if you didn't reveal your identity on your blog, but you did reveal a bunch of non-identifying facts about yourself that were available other places on the web where those facts were associated with your identity, Spock could form the probable conclusion that the two individuals were the same individual. Then Spock could include further facts you reveal about yourself on the anonymous blog on your Spock page. I'm not saying Spock does this, but it's possible and would explain how they got info about me from my myspace page which, as far as I know, has never been associated with my name. Make sense?
This should be a source of concern for Spock, since while California law protects companies like Spock from libel suits when the false info they present is only pulled from elsewhere online, the law doesn't protect them if they compile false info on an individual from some places where that false info is not presented as being about the individual. If they do this, they've gone beyond merely showing what's elsewhere on the web. -
Inappropriate?you have a horrible website you are advertising information that you have no right to! someone should report you to the cops and i think the media should do a story about how horrible you are!
I’m pissed
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Inappropriate?and its kind of odd how none of the employees here don't have their birth dates and where exactly they live like the rest of us do. I guess you guys like your privacy too! take me off your website IMMEDIATELY
I’m angry
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Don'tlikespock. If you would like to be removed from Spock please the question thread - Remove me from Spock! With regards to your other comments, as noted above, Spock is a search engine that works similar to Google, Yahoo, Ask, etc in that we crawl and index publish publicly available information. One of the many advantages of Spock is that we enable people to take control of their search result and remove any irrelevant tags, web links, pictures, etc. We are well aware that people don't necessarily display everything about themselves, which is why we enable people to claim their search result. Still, at the end of the day it's really up to a person to be aware of their web presence and what is made available about them (if you don't want information shown than you shouldn't display or post it- or at least make sure it's private) -
Inappropriate?but your site doesn't let you change and update the information so there is no control for us???? That's one of the reasons myspace and facebook is so great you can change and update or delete information. If it was like that all these people probably wouldn't be so angry with your site.....With your site the information is stuck there and you can't do a thing about it. There is no control. My information is private on myspace, yet it's still on your site? So everything you just said is a lie. That whole claiming the search result bs doesn't work tried it about 50 times already and didn't do jack. Tried emailing the customer service no reply........Looks like everyone one else has the same exact problem.......Have been contacting you guys for about 6 months already and my search result is STILL THERE
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