by Ben Rosenberg
Sports Editor
Imagine walking into your local coffee shop on the average Sunday morning. You’re one of the usual customers and you often pay with a credit card, so the guy behind the counter knows your first and last name. This time, however, he knows your birth date, home address, marriage and divorce records, likely relatives, phone numbers, neighbors, land ownership history, former and current jobs, and has an aerial view of your home via Google Maps. All of this information is just a click away on Zabasearch.com for a small fee, and if you’re willing to pay more, the information doesn’t stop there.
Not only is this website a violation of the fourth amendment, which promises the “right to privacy,” but it also provides criminals with all the information they need to break into your house when you aren’t home. A burglar could simply research your working hours, get the layout of your house, and call your home phone for confirmation that you’re gone before breaking in. Likewise, some information that the site presents may lead to identity theft. If you felt safe before, think again.
Zabasearch.com claims that all of the information they display is already available on various other sites accessible to the public, such as certain government and corporate databases, and they just provide a comprehensive site which condenses the data into a simple, direct source. First of all, none of those other sites should exist to begin with. But more importantly, the compiling of several details makes it quick, simple, and affordable to find out all sorts of information on a person who may not want their privacy breached. It’s true that the background and criminal checks provide useful tools for investigations, but suspicious neighbors could just as easily contact the police for a report without invading someone’s privacy.
The website also gives customers and non-customers alike the option of notification, via email, when they or their designated friends are being searched. This option would email you the name of the person who is searching your name or social security number. Although this helps the case for Zabasearch.com’s legality, the site does not ask consent before providing private information. Instead, they assume consent is given, and don’t provide notifications unless a person asks for it. In addition, any person who does not want to be searched should have the option of withdrawing their name from the database. The site claims that this is not possible, because it often forwards a person to another website for the information they seek. It does, however, provide the service of blocking a person’s name upon request, if one is willing to pay 20 dollars. Even still, this service is still only valid for two and a half years, after which the information is liable to reappear.
Zabasearch.com is a breach of the average citizen’s privacy. It is an unconstitutional establishment that does not have the right to provide easy access to personal records. If the information is willingly provided by the citizen, then a website such as Zabasearch.com has the right to display their information. The fact of the matter is that this site does not ask for consent and won’t disable the accessibility of a person’s name unless they are willing to pay for the service. All people have the right to privacy, and a person shouldn’t be able to discover facts about a fellow citizen without consent, or oftentimes, even their knowledge.