BlockShopper.com review: invasion of privacy/won't let us 'opt-out' 37

Anyone who is having problems with Blockshopper.com/Landon Company,

and wants to explore a class action lawsuit...

let's keep the ball rolling..

in the meantime...contact their advertisers and send them all the negative stuff on
the web with regard to Blockshopper.com...

after all, according to THEM, it IS public domain !

Well, well done on the research...I called the better business bureau and they won't take the complaint for the buisness in Chicago as of April 11, 2008. After that date all complaints need to be filed with the St. Louis, MO BBB. Their # is 314.645.3300.

Thanks for the information. I passed this information along to all the homeowners I knew.
I am interested in a class lawsuit. I have sent the staff of
blockshoppers( Scarlett@blockshopper.com, brian@blockshopper.com,
drew@blockshopper.com, timothylandon@blockshopper.com, rob@blockshopper.com)
serveral emails pertaining the risk they have placed my family in by listing my
complete address. I informed them that I work in a banking center which requires
me to open and close down a center that carries a ton of money. They were also
informed that I have a unique name that no other women has.I also informed them
that I live one city away from my job and based on my job functions I recieve
threats and anyone at anytime can locate me. There responses were "its public
information".

In the mean time I filed a complaint with Better Bus Bur and help@consumeraffairs.com

I'll be in on a class action. Besides putting us as risk, their business is using our names for purposes of profit. Don't we own our names? Everybody who clicks on our name and then clicks on the site gives them money from AdSense and their sponsors. I have been contacting their advertiser and real estate agents. What horrible, unethical people.

One more thought. I just found a blockshoppers.com video on YouTube. Comments aren't allowed (gee, wonder why). I'm not tech savvy, but can anybody put up a video to counter their claims about how wonderful they are?

This poses grave security concerns. In 1991, access to DMV records in California was restricted following the slaying of actress Rebecca Schaeffer. Her murderer had found her home address through the DMV. Now, thanks to blockshopper, a simple google search will do.

The geniuses at blockshopper argue that the information they post is public county records. The big difference is that county records are not searcheable by name, just by address.

This issue will be resolved legislatively, when members of Congress start receiving constituents' complaints at their home addresses (courtesy of blockshopper). Start writing!

REMEMBER...

to ALWAYS write in these names and cities when complaining about Blockshopper.com...

Brian Timpone, Chicago
Ed Weinhaus, St. Louis
Timothy Landon, Evanston

because the more times it's written, the more times it pops up when googled...and hopefully
more people will read about [and find out about] Blockshopper.com and how they WON'T
delete someone's address upon request...

and how they've already been sued by a HUGE law firm...

Keep it goin'...

until they're gone !

Public domain is fine (according to Blockshopper.com) when they're reeling in the dollars...
at peoples' expense and risk ...

let's see how public domain comes into play when we gleen negative comments about Blockshopper.com
and share them with thousands of others...

game on, boyz...

btw...Brian, nice hair on your you-tube video...and you don't mean any harm to anyone?

BULL !

Delete our addresses or we'll keep this up...

to stopblockshopper...

WAY to go on contacting their advertisers and realtors...I mean, isn't taking information
that is already on the web PUBLIC DOMAIN ? (I think I heard Timpone saying that somewhere?) LOL

they're hurting already...I can tell...

their lawyer is calling and threatening 'cease' blah, blah, blah !

Well, how is it that Blockshopper.com is the ONLY one who can do the blah, blah, blah dance
on THEIR website with OUR information ?

NOT !

let's keep it up and get them riding into the sunset !

bye bye boys !

C L A S S A C T I O N L A W S U I T !

If you are interested in joining a well organized effort against blockshopper, please contact me. I'm talking about:

1. Coordinated e-mail campaign: Individual e-mails isn't going to do it. We need numbers. If a company gets a random e-mail here and there it'll remain under the radar. But if they get a flood of them, and if it is from an organized group that says there is a deadline to remove ads or there will be a consumer boycott, then it will get their attention. Let's get organized.

2. Contact Google. Blockshopper not only has Google disseminating the problematic search listings, but Blockshopper also relies on Google ads for their revenue. Meanwhile Google has a code of conduct (http://investor.google.com/conduct.html) that is entirely inconsistent with their support of blockshopper. Let's call on Google to live up to their code of conduct. And again, we flood them in a coordinated effort.

3. Legal Action. Let's explore all avenues. Blockshopper's right to freedom of speech does not include endangering others. If you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater, you can't list people's information if they have a safety concern and want the info removed.

4. Information exchange. Let's see if there are other things we can do to protect ourselves in the meantime. Has anyone had success getting their county to stop giving the information out publicly (i.e. to Blockshopper)? What else can be done?

E-mail me if interested. OptOut4Safety@gmail.com

I would like to participate in a class action lawsuit against blockshopper.com. As of 4/12/2010, I emailed scarlett@blockshopper.com requesting my personal name be removed and she replied via email that it was public information. In other words, no-they would not remove it. Now my name is on google everywhere as is my address, the purchase price of the property, etc.

This is definitely scary. I am worried sick about it being so easily accessible to anyone simply typing my name into the google search engine. There was some privacy knowing that anyone seriously interested in this info. would have to make a personal trip to the country or already have the name and address information in order to do a county search. In addition, the fact that blockshopper.com is making money by advertising my name, address, and home purchase information without my consent, (and I am legally powerless to stop them-I email them a request to remove my name and their response was that it was public information) is outrageous.

The US census records for each individual aren't made electronically available until many decades after the census is completed. Why is my current information which is even more personal made available to a "for profit" website that has now advertised on the first page of any google search performed on my first and last name?

It is time for a class action lawsuit.

Blockshopper.com is providing names and addresses without permission of many, many people. This needs to stop immediately. Blockshopper.com does not have the right to provide names. Perhaps they have the right to provide the property information, I'm not sure, but they sure don't have the right to freely provide names to the entire world. Blockshopper.com is putting many people at risk.

I've already contacted (e-mailed) my state senators and congressional representatives about the website. I await their reply. I suggest you contact your representatives as well.

Perhaps contacting your district attorney, and state attorney general would be a good idea too.

Blockshopper.com crossed the line when they decided, without our permission, to provide our personal names, putting us all at great risk.

Contact your representatives.

I've filed a complaint with the FTC against Blockshopper... I suggest you all do the same, if you haven't already!

File a complaint with the BBB (How in the world can they have an A- rating?)

The BBB that will handle your complaint is:
BBB of E. Missouri & S. Illinois
(Saint Louis, MO)
15 Sunnen Drive, Ste. 107
Saint Louis, MO 60206
Phone: [protected]
Fax: [protected]
Email: bbb@stlouisbbb.org
Web: http://www.stlouis.bbb.org

All correspondence about your complaint will come from and should be addressed to this BBB.

Blockshopper's BBB review
http://www.bbb.org/stlouis/business-reviews/real-estate/blockshoppercom-in-saint-louis-mo-310251314

FTC Complaint form
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en

Consumer Affairs complaint form
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/php/a_report.php

Blockshopper.com info:
1065 Executive Parkway Ste 200
Saint Louis, MO 63141
[protected]

Pictures and bios of the one who run Blockshopper:
http://chicago.blockshopper.com/about/team

CEO's home information:
Timothy Landon
2704 Bennett
Evanston, Illinois
[protected]
timothylandon@blockshopper.com
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=716935106&ref=sgm

Brian Timpone
2024 n. Racine #d
Chicago, Illinois 60614
brian@blockshopper.com
http://www.facebook.com/#!/btimpone?ref=sgm

Ed Weinhaus, St. Louis
http://www.facebook.com/#!/eddie.weinhaus?ref=sgm

Scarlett@blockshopper.com
drew@blockshopper.com
rob@blockshopper.com

So is there a lawsuit to join yet?

Hi all, I too would like to join in any class action lawsuit. If anything gets started please let me know.

Just thought I will throw in my two cents. I just sent a letter to Scarlett and told her: That my husband and I are not celebrities, public officials or in the public eye in any which way or form. I told her that it is unlawful that a company can make money off of a person without reimbursement. I told her that if by a certain date my name and my husbands name is not removed I will be filing a lawsuit because I am not free and I am not cheap. Yes yes it's public records but the fact that they are making money without giving me some sort of reimbursement is unlawful and unethical. I will update...

I am with you, and want to be part of the class action law suit. I wrote "Scarlett" yesterday and demanded my name, home address and photo of my home be removed from the site. I felt completely violated by Blockshopper and my personal security threatened 24/7. The response from them was for me to "prove it" to them by providing even more personal and confidential information such as legal documents explaining and verifying why I needed my information removed. This made me so very angry so I wrote another scathing email with my repsonse and a promise to complain to the FTC, Attorney General, local officials, my local newspaper, homeowners association, etc. Then, after a doing research on the company and the founders I find that they are Real Estate [censored]s with unethical bad business practices. Why can't they be stopped? If I can help, I will. cjlipe@aol.com

I am also attempting to stop blockshopper.com. I am sending this message to all their advertisers:

I am requesting that you cease advertising with blockshopper.com. They are an unethical company that recklessly publishes personal information online. They publish your HOME ADDRESS and offer no way to have that information removed.

Please to not support this business. In the interest of encouraging you to stop doing business with blockshopper.com, I am emailing all of my gmail and Facebook contacts and outlining how your continuing support of this business is putting my life in danger.

I just sent this message to Avis Rent-A-Car (avis.com) and intend to send it to every business that supports this unethical company.

That's not the real problem. Blockshoppers.com claims to use public information, but every home owner in the city of coverage is not listed. I've done my research. My parents name aren't linked to blockshoppers at all but mine is. If they want to publicize information that a person would normally have to get from county records that's fine. But to be thorough and fair, they should check to see if the person they are about to post has been a victim of some kind of criminal act. I have and so have many others. Now the person who tried to murder me, only has to google my maiden name and he has access to my address and new name. I DID NOT PURCHASE MY HOME WITH MY NEW NAME. Blockshoppers should also check to see if someone is unlisted. I am. This blatant display of information can cause someone their life. I also requested my information be removed or *** out to some point. I was refused and told to show proof of the crimes against me. That is unacceptable. If the company uses public info, they should do research as well to ensure safety.

This site encourages identity theft by publishing a persons personal information without the consent of the person itself. On asking to take the info off the site, they are very rude and turn deaf ear. There have been numerous complaints against this site but still this site continues to post their articles about people's personal information.

My wife and I are pretty discrete people. We’re unlisted in the phone book and maintain carefully crafted presences on the Web. I don’t even use Facebook! So, I’m really annoyed by the fact that you can “google” my name and find my address, my wife’s name, and purchase price of my home on BlockShopper. There needs to be a broad opt out mechanism for BlockShopper. Their response to the question of anonymity is completely unacceptable (read it for yourself at http://www.blockshopper.com/faq.html#q4)! I should be able to automatically prevent my name from showing up on BlockShopper, especially when its tied to my home address. BlockShopper should not allow searches by name on their site. BlockShopper needs to protect how their databases are exposed to search engines. This is an invasion of our collective privacy. They have crossed the line

http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/using-name-or-likeness-another

http://www.ehow.com/how_2040850_report-violation-online-privacy-rights.html

Ways to stop them:

1. Money : way they make money is search engines traffic, people search for names or properties and end up on that site - site is total fraud as provides no value and makes money out of exposing stuff and people clicking on ads. Complain to google, yahoo and ask.com to classify site as fraud and it will be blocked. You can also post home addresses of powerful people (curtesy of Blockshopper.com) to get their attention and get them to help out chipping with their lawyers. Maybe list of all top google employes home addresses gets some attention, and get them to deal with it.

2. It is true that data is public (their excuse) but it is illegal based on Exploitative Purpose, he is using your names to endorse his site without your permission. It is very easy to prove this as all searches he is getting are your names and your properties. I am sure that there is some young lawyer that can make nice carrier on saving world and shutting these criminals (by law that is what they are) down. Read bellow - send to any lawyer you know.

Exploitative Purpose: Right of Publicity

The right of publicity is the right of a person to control and make money from the commercial use of his or her identity. A plaintiff that sues you for interfering with that right generally must show that you used his or her name or likeness for a commercial purpose. This ordinarily means using the plaintiff's name or likeness in advertising or promoting your goods or services, or placing the plaintiff's name or likeness on or in products or services you sell to the public. Therefore, it is a bad idea to create an advertisement suggesting that a celebrity -- or anyone for that matter -- endorses your website or blog. It is equally unwise to use someone else's name as the title of your website or blog, especially if you host advertisements. You can be liable even without creating a false sense that the person in question endorses your product or service; the key is that you are exploiting the plaintiff's identity to drive traffic or obtain some other commercial benefit.

Mr Tim Landon is also on the board of directors for American Public Education, Inc. This organization praises themselves as serving the military. Please feel free to contact this organization to inform them that he is putting military members who have served and interacted with local nationals in Iraq and Afghanistan at risk of being found so easily by enemies of our nation. http://www.americanpubliceducation.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=214618&p=irol-govBoard American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) is a provider of online post-secondary education focused primarily on serving the military and public service communities. American Public University System (APUS), wholly owned by APEI, comprises two universities American Military University (AMU) and American Public University (APU). Regionally and nationally accredited, APUS serves more than 70, 000 adult learners worldwide and offers 79 degree programs in fields ranging from homeland security, military studies, intelligence, and criminal justice to technology, business administration, public health, and liberal arts.

Mr Timothy J. Landon, is also on the Board of Directors for APIE. If you are an investor sell your shares and put your money where your mouth is. Oh, and feel free to contact the company who says they serve the military. Putting our service members information on this site puts them at risk if they have had even the slightest involvment with local Iraqi nationals while deployed. They can be found and put in harms way by our nations enemies.

American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) is a provider of online post-secondary education focused on serving the military. American Public University System (APUS), wholly owned by APEI, comprises two universities American Military University (AMU) and American Public University (APU).

http://www.americanpubliceducation.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=214618&p=irol-govBoard

Mr Timothy J. Landon, is also on the Board of Directors of Once of Prevention. Please contact his fellow Board Memebers to inform them of his actions.

http://www.ounceofprevention.org/about/board.php

I am complaining about Blockshopper in Chicago and St. Louis and the following individuals Brian Timpone, Chicago Ed Weinhaus, St. Louis Timothy Landon, Evanston, Scarlett Simpson, I think that we should use their database to mine all those people who represent a potential client list for a class action lawsuit against blockshopper. I say we call ourselves blockstopper and let the fight begin...

I am another in total agreement. I would be very interested in following up with a lawsuit about them being in violation of our "personality rights" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_rights
This is probably the set of laws that may stop them. These ### have no conscience whatsoever. Doesn't anyone in the legal world see the dangers of the fact that with a few clicks a pedophile can look up child online and then if that child has a unique last name, see where they live and also find out where they go to school? I am furious and ready to join the fight!

Well at least everyone can send the people who run this company a holiday card, or service of process for a lawsuit. good thing it is publicly available information

TIMOTHY LANDON
2704 Bennett Ave
Evanston, IL [protected]
[protected]

---------
BRIAN TIMPONE
2024 North Racine Ave, Apt# D
Chicago, IL 60614

---------
TIMOTHY O'NEIL
3528 N Janssen Ave
Chicago, IL [protected]
[protected]

---------
ROBERT NAVARRE
Robert W Navarre II
725 Glenayre Dr
Glenview, IL [protected]
[protected]

-------
EDWARD WEINHAUS
102 Ladue Aire Dr
Saint Louis, MO [protected]
[protected]
[protected]

Any update here? Let's keep the conversation going. Are there any attorneys working on this? We need to shut this website down, or at the very least, allow people to opt out!

Also a Victim of Blockshopper.com will chip in or join any class action

Guillermo Rivera was deaf not hear. He say, hello l can help blockShopper Law. Guillermo told lawyer that He never, ever wrote the file case co- sign names = Felicita Gerena, Digna Gerena and Guillermo Rivera lived own house at 1726 N. MapleWood ave Chicago, IL 60647 to Nov.11, 1995yr. real estate sale house. Broker, Mortgage Planner, Edward Rivera work officer. Guillermo say, thank blockShopper law, Guillermo Rivera, riveraguillermo22@gmail.com or [protected]

Guillermo tell you that he have wife, name Roberta Rivera.

We will marry 2 years 2018yr

Blockshopper needs to be stopped. Horrible company.