Names Database
Encyclopedia
The Names Database is a social network
, owned and operated by United Online
, the parent company of Classmates.com
, with headquarters in Orem, Utah
. Unlike most social networks, it requires that new registrations include five email addresses of friends or acquaintances. The site immediately checks the validity of the addresses, disallowing fraudulent information.
12 subscription. As of July 28, 2007, the site boasts over 33 million users.
for $10 million from creator, Gabriel Weinberg (founder of Duck Duck Go
), in March 2006, transferring responsibility and duties to a larger company. The database had about 20 million users at the time of sale, meaning the email addresses were bought for about 50 cent
s per user. Despite the acquisition, the site still relies on word of mouth and friend referrals to grow.
The word of mouth method operation of the database has caused it to grow rapidly. In 2006, the home page reported a membership of over 30 million. Additionally, the database contains information about more than 50 million people, ranging from world leaders to high school students.
"You grant Opobox a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, royalty-free right to (a) use, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, translate and reformat Your Information in any media now known or not currently known..."
The data collection policies of Names Database allow the data to be used for spamming
. There is also some concern about the posting of the personal information of children, though the site forbids such actions.
When entering other peoples information such as their email address, you then become personally liable for the use of that information and you have most likely not asked permission to use said information in such a way. To avoid problems, always have written permission from those people whose email addresses you are submitting. It may be a paid service, but on the site there is no information to confirm payment and the service provider supplies no site contact that may remedy any disputed payment.
Apart from privacy risks, confidence tricksters are now also using the Names Database in an attempt to achieve their obscure goals. Any new e-mail address can actually afford a fraudster any identity on the database. By registering e-mail addresses at any of the free e-mail facilities such as Gmail
, Hotmail
, Yahoo! Mail
, etc., they create duplicate identities or identities that closely resemble actual people on the database. Unsuspecting users trying to reconnect with old friends or schoolmates can thereby actually contact a fraudster, thinking they are sending a message to a known person. The confidence trickster then tries to solicit further private information, and is known to use 419 Nigerian Letter or Advance-fee fraud methods to further entrap their victims.
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
, owned and operated by United Online
United Online
United Online is a public company formed by the 2001 merger of NetZero and Juno Online Services. The company's range of products and services has evolved significantly since inception, primarily through a series of acquisitions that have included Classmates Online , MyPoints and FTD Group, Inc. ....
, the parent company of Classmates.com
Classmates.com
Classmates.com is a social network service created in 1995 by Randy Conrads who founded Classmates Online, Inc.The social media website was originally designed to assist members in finding friends and acquaintances from kindergarten, primary school, high school, college, work and the United States...
, with headquarters in Orem, Utah
Orem, Utah
Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the north-central part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is about south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the principal cities of the Provo-Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Utah and...
. Unlike most social networks, it requires that new registrations include five email addresses of friends or acquaintances. The site immediately checks the validity of the addresses, disallowing fraudulent information.
Ownership and operations
While it is owned by Classmates Online, the Names Database is kept under a separate web name. To obtain the full access to the site, users must submit more than 20 e-mail addresses or buy a US$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
12 subscription. As of July 28, 2007, the site boasts over 33 million users.
Acquisition by Classmates Online
The company was acquired by Classmates.comClassmates.com
Classmates.com is a social network service created in 1995 by Randy Conrads who founded Classmates Online, Inc.The social media website was originally designed to assist members in finding friends and acquaintances from kindergarten, primary school, high school, college, work and the United States...
for $10 million from creator, Gabriel Weinberg (founder of Duck Duck Go
Duck Duck Go
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that is based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and uses information from crowd-sourced sites with the aim of augmenting traditional results and improving relevance...
), in March 2006, transferring responsibility and duties to a larger company. The database had about 20 million users at the time of sale, meaning the email addresses were bought for about 50 cent
Cent (currency)
In many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit. Etymologically, the word cent derives from the Latin word "centum" meaning hundred. Cent also refers to a coin which is worth one cent....
s per user. Despite the acquisition, the site still relies on word of mouth and friend referrals to grow.
Membership and expansion
To initially access the database, one must supply five valid email addresses, usually belonging to friends or family. After registration, the names of all people in the database are fully searchable. However, contact with these members is limited until 25 addresses are supplied or a subscription fee is paid. As of October 2006, subscriptions can be purchased for one or three year periods. A non-searchable static version of the database is also available, which lists names and high school affiliations.The word of mouth method operation of the database has caused it to grow rapidly. In 2006, the home page reported a membership of over 30 million. Additionally, the database contains information about more than 50 million people, ranging from world leaders to high school students.
Record removal
The site provides option of removing one's listing in the database. The removal process does indeed remove all information from the static database as claimed by the website. It does't even give you an option to delete. It on the other hand ask for around 24 people to be refereed before unlocking the account.Privacy risk
Before entering data one should be aware of the privacy risk:"You grant Opobox a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, royalty-free right to (a) use, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, translate and reformat Your Information in any media now known or not currently known..."
The data collection policies of Names Database allow the data to be used for spamming
E-mail spam
Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...
. There is also some concern about the posting of the personal information of children, though the site forbids such actions.
When entering other peoples information such as their email address, you then become personally liable for the use of that information and you have most likely not asked permission to use said information in such a way. To avoid problems, always have written permission from those people whose email addresses you are submitting. It may be a paid service, but on the site there is no information to confirm payment and the service provider supplies no site contact that may remedy any disputed payment.
Apart from privacy risks, confidence tricksters are now also using the Names Database in an attempt to achieve their obscure goals. Any new e-mail address can actually afford a fraudster any identity on the database. By registering e-mail addresses at any of the free e-mail facilities such as Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
, Hotmail
Hotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
, Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! Mail is a web mail service provided by Yahoo!. It was inaugurated in 1997, and, according to comScore, Yahoo! Mail was the second largest web-based email service with 273.1 million users as of November 2010....
, etc., they create duplicate identities or identities that closely resemble actual people on the database. Unsuspecting users trying to reconnect with old friends or schoolmates can thereby actually contact a fraudster, thinking they are sending a message to a known person. The confidence trickster then tries to solicit further private information, and is known to use 419 Nigerian Letter or Advance-fee fraud methods to further entrap their victims.