Public Defense

Not So Advanced Social Networking Investigation Techniques

Alright, if you haven't already read about the following website in the most recent issue of Newsweek, you've been missing out. Basically, its another great tool for your investigative toolbox.

Before I give you the link to the site, I just want to explain what it does. It's a free and very easy to use website that lets you track down friends and updates they've made to over 30 social networking type websites....all with only an email address. The website is called SPOKEO and the following is a list of the services they can track your friends on (from their own website):

Supported Service	Description
Amazon Wish List	Online shopping
Bebo	The largest social network in UK
Blogger	Blog
Buzznet	Social network
dailymotion	Video
deviantART	Graphic designer social network
Digg	Social news
Flickr	The largest photo service
Fotolog	Photo blogging
Friendster	One of the oldest social networks
Hi5	Top 5 social network in the world
imeem	Music playlist social network
LinkedIn	Professional social network
Last.fm	Music social network
LiveJournal	Blog
MySpace	The largest social network
Netlog	Social network from Europe
Pandora	Radio and music
PhotoBucket	Image hosting
Picasa	Google?s photo service
PictureTrail	Photo
Slide	Photo slide shows and widgets
Twitter	Mobile SMS micro-blogging
Veoh	Video and online TV
Vox	Blogs & social network
WebShots	Photo
Windows Live Spaces	MSN?s social network
Wretch	Chinese social network
Xanga	Blog
Yahoo! Videos	Video
Yelp	Local restaurant reviews.
YouTube	Video

Enter some email addresses of your friends or just log in with your webmail account...Pretty cool huh? Yeah, I know that some of you are a little disturbed about this and some of the results that come back on the people in your address book but you can check out some of their Frequently Asked Questions and hopefully find some relief to your fears.

So why is this website important as a new investigative tool and not just some cool gimmick you can use to keep up with your friends? If you're doing some background work AND YOU ALREADY HAVE YOUR TARGETS EMAIL ADDRESS this is the MOST AWESOME CREATION EVER!!!

It really is a huge time saver. As soon as I read about this site, I ran three email addresses on some active cases I had open and up popped some really new information that I NEVER would have been able to find on my own, in fact I wish I could have gotten into the office this weekend to grab some more files just to plug in some more email addresses.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Part of me thinks its too good to be true and that it'll be shutdown but as a defense investigator in a county with limited funding for tech resources, I'm hoping its here to stay.

Full post as published by Of a Public Defender's Life on January 28, 2008 (boomark / email).