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Dating Site Creates Profiles From Public Records

Posted by timothy on from the you-didn't-even-know-you-were-looking dept.

schliz writes "Online dating company Gotham Dating Partners has announced plans to create profiles for non-registered individuals based on publicly available information from social networking sites, e-mail registries, mailing lists, marketing surveys, government census records, real estate listings and business websites. Although the Australian Privacy Commissioner has warned that the automatic creation of identifiable profiles of individuals without their knowledge is 'not good privacy practice,' Gotham Dating Partners does not expect to face any privacy issues from the move, which is expected to boost its membership from 6.5 million to 340 million worldwide."

19 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Easy by sltd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They'll just get everyone's info from Facebook!

    1. Re:Easy by DavidRawling · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't see the point. 60%+ will be married / unavailable, at a guess, 20% will not want to be contacted and 20% will be like me (fat, ugly, mean and nasty - yes, I'm just pre-populating the database). Who are they going to match with "george421@gmail.com who has a Slashdot account and isn't on Facebook"? (Sorry, if you're george421@gmail.com).

      As for the response from the operator, "We don't expect to have privacy issues" - the Australian privacy commissioner is probably the better informed spokesperson in this particular case. Let's not forget "the only way to not be in the database will be to log in, confirm all your details then delete them" - who here thinks they'll respect the deletion? Anyone? "You there in seat 23596DKL were you raising your hand or scratching ... oh OK scratching it is."

    2. Re:Easy by rpresser · · Score: 4, Informative

      Which leads to the question: why not just use Facebook directly? (And the alternate question: why hasn't someone tied together Facebook and a dating service yet? Seems like an obvious connection.)

      http://www.google.com/search?q=facebook+dating
      http://www.facebook.com/zooskdating

    3. Re:Easy by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Informative

      Don't forget the 10% who are gay/lesbian and have no interest in what is most likely a heterosexually oriented dating service.

      I think your figure is too high, it roughly corresponds to the number of people who say they have had a homosexual experience, but far exceeds the percentage who are exclusively homosexual.

    4. Re:Easy by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Funny

      Which leads to the question: why not just use Facebook directly? (And the alternate question: why hasn't someone tied together Facebook and a dating service yet? Seems like an obvious connection.)

      I can't see though why anyone would use a service where 95% of the members can't respond since they aren't registered. If the goal is to increase the signal to noise ratio by finding a good match and a successful pairing then you would want to remove idle users not add them.

      I tried that, but it seems that 90% of the people are in the Mafia, farmers, or zombie hunters

    5. Re:Easy by somersault · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the goal is to increase the signal to noise ratio by finding a good match

      That's clearly not the goal, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. It's just so they can say "we have the largest membership of any dating site! Come find your match today!" type of thing. Then the poor suckers will pay for an account, or at the very least become another pair of eyes that may for some god forsaken reason want to click on an ad. Probably for a fleshlight.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    6. Re:Easy by pokerdad · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think this practice is pretty despicable unless they make it obvious which profiles were autogenerated. If they don't do that then it could spoil the trust in a lot of relationships if someone finds out their partner is on a dating site (best friend: hey I googled your gf's name for uh.. research.. never mind, and I saw she's totally got a live account on a dating site!).

      I think you have stumbled on what the entire point of this service would be - denyability. If say half the profiles on the site are auto generated and half are people cheating on their spouses, then the cheaters don't have to worry nearly so much about getting caught; they can always claim that they never used the site, their profile was just auto generated. Sure it would make it a little hard to hook up with a real person, but for some this would probably be worth it.

    7. Re:Easy by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 4, Funny

      In Facebook America, This Page Likes You!

      --
      My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
    8. Re:Easy by tehcyder · · Score: 5, Funny

      What's the difference between a "heterosexually oriented" dating service and a gay one?

      A: What's the difference between a cucumber sandwich and unprotected anal sex?

      B: I don't know.

      A: In that case, would you like to come to tea tonight?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  2. Ugly people date by aronzak · · Score: 5, Informative

    The company operates several dating sites, including: Dons and Divas, Faithful Lover, Marry Me First, Prison Hookup, and Ugly People Date

    Say no more

    1. Re:Ugly people date by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 4, Interesting
      For those too lazy to search: The Ugly Bug Ball - real dating for real people.

      ... and here's their rationale:

      1. Half of daters aren't pretty so instead of fishing in a small pool of prettiness and getting nowhere dive into an ocean of uglies and have more choice
      2. Ugly people are a better calibre of human - pretty people generally aren't very nice and tend to be a bit shallow
      3. Ugly people have had a tougher life and therefore tend to be more considerate and more loyal. A recent TUBB survey also proved that they try harder in bed.
      4. Once with an ugly partner it is unlikely that anyone will try and take them from you meaning you can let yourself go completely once you're together.
      5. In these straightened times TUBB is cheaper as a) We don't charge much as the pretty sites and b) Ugly people have lower expectations - for a first date A Family Bucket will usually do the trick.

        Hehe, ... try harder in bed ... family bucket...

    2. Re:Ugly people date by Chemisor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      > Half of daters aren't pretty so instead of fishing in a small pool of prettiness and getting nowhere dive into an ocean of uglies and have more choice

      If I wanted to lower my standards that much, I could visit the local bar. It is not hard to find single ugly women; no dating site is needed for that.

      > Ugly people are a better calibre of human - pretty people generally aren't very nice and tend to be a bit shallow
      > Ugly people have had a tougher life and therefore tend to be more considerate and more loyal.

      In my experience ugly people are much worse caliber of human. They've had a tougher life and ended up mean and bitter. And while there are a very few ugly women out there who turned to learning things, most just mope around the house and complain to their ugly friends about how shallow men are.

      > A recent TUBB survey also proved that they try harder in bed.

      Anybody who hasn't been laid in years would try hard in bed. At least the first time.

      > Once with an ugly partner it is unlikely that anyone will try and take them from you meaning you can let yourself go completely once you're together.

      That's true. If you have something nobody wants, you can easily keep it. And then yourself become something nobody wants.

      > In these straightened times TUBB is cheaper as a) We don't charge much as the pretty sites and

      All dating sites worth visiting are free.

      > b) Ugly people have lower expectations - for a first date

      Fair enough. If you're ugly and have low expectation, TUBB is the site for you. The rest of us still have some self-respect left.

  3. Dating site scams by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Lonely men on these sites can now look forward to receiving more 'winks' from hot 19 year old co-eds (who aren't actually members or interested) urging them to 'upgrade their membership' (pay money) in order to reply to them.

    Anyone signing up to these sites should check the Ts&Cs very carefully. My favourite is Ashley Madison's:

    From time to time this service may include, offer, or initiate winks, collect messages or instant chat from Market Researchers (Online Hosts) simulating attached or single men or women. These efforts are conducted for market research and/or customer experience and/or quality control and/or compliance purposes. Market research information is used to provide analysis, feedback, trends, patterns, social commentary and information in the aggregate and aides in the process of monitoring our system for compliance of our operating standards and code of conduct. Accordingly, Market Researchers (Online Hosts) will NOT be conspicuously identified.

    Any male signing up, can expect to be contacted by some impossibly hot young thing, within hours of sign-up.

  4. Re:Privacy by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's a world of difference between my Facebook profile being viewable and being associated and listed as single on a dating site. The difference is purpose of website and intent of visitors. If someone wants to trawl through thousands of public facebook accounts looking for single people then so be it. It's quite another to be expressly listed on a search engine designed for such a thing. An extreme example is where your phone number is publicly listed in the phone book may be of no concern to you. Would you feel the same way if it was posted on 4chan along with messages of "Let's make this guy's life hell?"

    I'm waiting for the moment this company gets sued because without anyone's consent they built a profile which turned out to be not favorable based on automated / wrong information.

    I know I know, public information is public information. However in my country a "reasonable expectation" rule applies to such things. An example is if you're in a restaurant (publicly accessible place), but you're sitting in the far corner alone not engaging anyone you have a legally granted reasonable expectation of privacy, and I don't think a reasonable person would expect their phone number to end up on a dating site without consent, even if it is listed in the phone book.

  5. Boost membership? by MavEtJu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now run this by me again...

    How does
    create profiles for non-registered individuals based on publicly available information

    result into
    which is expected to boost its membership from 6.5 million to 340 million worldwide.

    ?

    --
    bash$ :(){ :|:&};:
  6. Dating site or spying center? by mcvos · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When I read the summary, I thought they were going to create the most useless dating site ever. Where many commercial dating sites already have the problem that the vast majority of your matches will be unable to respond, here the vast majority of your matches wouldn't even be interested in dating, and would consider your attempts to contact them spam.

    TFA sounds more like they want to provide a service for people and companies to collect information on people (prospective employees?), while the official cover story is that they want to check the accuracy of their dating profiles (but then why would they need millions of other profiles too?).

  7. dear slashdot, don't post professional trolls by Nyall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How about we not give these clowns free publicity for spouting nonsense ?

    This isn't any different than the ryan airlines CEO make press releases about only needing one pilot.

    --
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification
  8. libel and slander by epine · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not just a matter of privacy. Repeating false information about a person runs foul of libel and slander.

    The credit rating agencies have some kind of weird exemption under law from being sued under libel or slander. So if a creditor gives a credit agency false information about your payment history, it's a huge ordeal to get this expunged, and meanwhile you can't sue the credit rating agency for broadcasting what would be a libellous falsehood in any other context.

    These people, not so lucky.

    I don't think the credit rating agencies want to see big issues surrounding libel and slander challenged in court. They have it good. Hardly anyone ever points out their cozy loophole. Either they'll choose to prop up the legitimacy of these fringe collators, or they'll be distributing severed horse heads to make them go away.

  9. Customary XKCD. by VortexCortex · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://xkcd.com/713/

    I felt obliged to post an XKCD link -- as it is our custom.