I was horrified today when I googled just the street name of my address and to see my full name on Blockshopper.com. I was even more horrifed to see that if you search a name on this website, it will list every asset that person owns. And if you are one of the lucky ones, they even post which company you work for and your position. This is a total invasion to ones' privacy. Many people complained and Blockshopper finally put in an "opt-out" to let people's name be removed from their website. That is if you can prove that you are being stalked with policy records and etc...So basically this "opt-out" option is VERY VERY limited. I do not see this as a real "opt out."

The website kept saying all the records it published is "public records." Yes, it is public records if I known a particular address and I go to the government to request the information or I pay a fee to a private company. What blockshopper does it creates all these links and free indexing so that information about home owners can be obtained in a matter of a couple clicks and it is ALL FREE.

Phone numbers can be blocked why can't the home owners name and assets be blocked? It is one thing to post housing values such as zillow but it is very different when you tag on names and I mean full (legal) names. If I want to know where Joe Smith lives and how much properties he owns, all I need to do is google it and this website will tell you everything regardless where I am (I could be in China). I come from China and I always thought the Americans view privacy very high...I can not believe though that such website can exist. People want to live in a safe environment not being exposed like this on the cyberspace!!! Please someone start a legal action aganist them. There SHOULD BE LAW written to protect US citizens and residents! We clearly need new laws to govern what is considered "public information" on the internet!!!

Still very disturbed and shocked about this website. I will never search anything on this website because that will only encourage them to do what they are doing now...people making profit out of other peoples' safety is really not right!

An update on continued problems with Blockshopper.com. Although they posted a new privacy policy, they aren't following their own guidelines. I had a letter from my County Prosecuting Attorney's office, written by a Protection Order Advocate. In no uncertain terms, it stated that my name should be removed from blockshoppers site for safety reasons due to a stalker. It also had a copy of the protection order attached to it. Blockshopper apparently decided that because some info had been redacted (to protect what little privacy is left) that they weren't going to honor the request, and they continue to leave my name on their site. Interestingly enough- within days of receiving my letter- they had an attorney mail a letter to my home address threatening to sue me if I continued to speak out agains blockshopper.

I can honestly say that when I read previous postings that said websites & individuals had been threatened with lawsuits by this company, and had therefore disappeared, I wasn't so sure it was true. I presumed it was angry people getting a little bit dramatic. I offer apologies- as I am now one of the people that blockshopper is trying to intimidate while they continue to expose me to a safety threat. I couldn't fathom that any professional business would threaten people or ignore life-safety issues- but blockshopper has shown themselves to be beyond - way beyond- unprofessional.

These guys will not entertain opt out requests or in the least removing your personal information from being indexed by the Google search crawler. As a result, when someone Googles your name, the first thing people see in the result page is the price of your property. This is wrong because most people Googling your name are not researching real estate, which is the target demographic for Blockshopper. People Googling your name may include stalkers, business partners, hiring managers, envious neighbors, criminals - people who you generally want to avoid giving such private information to.

This policy also breeds erroneously perceived resentment among members of your peer group and society as a whole. It puts homeowners into a special category - those whom it's OK to resent and act negatively towards because of the high price they paid for their home, which could in the minds of some fools equate them to having a high income and a premium social status. The truth however is that most homeowners are struggling to keep it together given the financial downturn, loss of jobs, falling home prices, and resetting mortgages - do they really need more burden placed on them at this time?

It's true there's nothing illegal about Blockshopper exposing homeowner information in such a public and accessible way. But let's use a historical example as a predictor of a possible outcome. In 1930s Germany, all Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their shirt sleeves. This was the law at the time and there was no way to opt out, meaning if you were Jewish, every German knew it. Furthermore because of such a uniquely identified and resented status, people could hurt you and no one would care. We all know what happened next. I'm not saying that Blockshopper management are Nazis nor have any intentions to be, however they clearly have not thought through the consequences and externalities of their actions and policies.

The business model aspect of Blockshopper's strategy puzzles me as well. I can understand the need for a young startup site to attract as many unique users as possible and retain them for the long term in order to gain sustainable advertising dollars. However, most people that would benefit from Blockshopper and keep coming back are the same people in the real estate game that the company is pissing off right now, homeowners. No reasonable person I know would want to trade their privacy so openly violated to perhaps slightly better real estate intelligence. So while the model may be workable in the short term because the site is so new and fresh, long term people are going to go to a competitor that treats them ethically. Advertisers will follow both for profit reasons and for the fact that they will not want to be associated with such a morally bankrupt company.

So in summary, Blockshopper in its current shape and form is bad for business, for society, and is frankly scary enough for me to never use it to research real estate nor advertise on it.

Blockshopper.com website business model apparently places people at personal and professional risk to become targets of identity theft, stalking, and other serious crime. Though Jones Day and their Chicago Law firm filed suit against Blockshopper.com and this website's owners-TIMOTHY LANDON, BRIAN TIMPONE & EDWARD WEINHAUS about trademark infringement, the law firm was also victimized by Blockshopper.com by having their home addresses with their full names published and accessible in Blockshopper.com. Numerous concerns have been expressed by private citizens who in their joy of becoming homeowners were published on that unscrupulous website along with their addresses and real estate information, creating easy access to their information and positioning them to be victims of crime. It seems clear that the Blockshopper.com business model includes the unethical use of people's information for their own business profits and contributes to the crime opportunities and the rise in crime against US homeowners. Do these website business owners have an ethical responsibility to the US homeowners not to publish full names of the real estate information? Many people would agree. Do they have a legal obligation? The websites owners said they don't and will not remove homeowners' information (even just names) when requested. For the sake President Obama's success of stimulating the economy and homeownership, it is hoped that these website owners have a legal responsibility to remove when requested people's information from their website. Can the legal entities that be or the local, state, and/or federal government help citizens with these grave concerns?

They are publishing my name with my address for purposes of profiting off the information. I requested to have just my name not be published in association with my address and they told me it is public information. They are getting the information from the county assessor's office. If any one starts a class action lawsuit or needs a name to sign a petition to a congressional leaders, let me know. I would be happy to supply my name and address for the cause!