How can I find info about a specific person on the web?

Question

background information

Answer 1

How to use the Web to find info on another person? Oh, dear Lord, how do I love thee-let me count the ways...

First, just put the person's full name in quote marks into a search engine's window and plus (+) any additional information you know, such as state of residence, or occupation, or honor of some sort. You can even try a telephone number or a ZIP Code.--See what that brings you. It may answer your need right there. (And be prepared for 100s of useless answers and false matches. You WILL have to think in the manner of a detective. No clue or bit of information is insignificant. Try everything you know in one long string and then cull the lesser important items in a variety of ways and attempts. Expect to have a lot of patience. Example, I found some information out about a cousin on the Web by just using his full name including a middle initial. He popped up as a member of a professional association, as the alterman in the minutes of a California city during a debate on raising taxes (he was for it!) and as the writer of a letter-to-the-editor in a military magazine in which he was trying to rewrite a portion of the Vietnam Conflict in which he flew a jet fighter and was the guy who DID blast out a bridge that some article-writer had written as left whole after a day of USAF strikes against it.

Second, use the White Pages of, say, Yahoo. This can lead you into one of those "here are six people with the same name in Chicago and we will open up their files to you for $50". Your choice here. How valuable is the information to you?

Here's another way. If you know the city, get the phone number of the local chamber of commerce and ask them about the person if he/she owns a business there, is prominent in the community--or about the business where he/she works, if you have figured that much out. Ever little clue helps. The CofC may tell you that XYZ Corporation has had to layoff half of its workforce. THAT is important information to know! Your target has a 50-50 chance of being out of work.

See?

Hmmmm--some long shots. You can call the local main library and ask for the current president of the community's genealogy association. Then call that person and tell him/her you researching the, say, Wilson family and did he/she know anything about them and if he/she has a contact.

Be very very careful that you do not get into invasion of privacy. That can be expensive if somebody decides to fink you to the cops. That can be considered Stalking in some jurisdictions.

Enough. By now, you ought to have the idea, OK?

Lees_Sword

Answer 2

I dont think there is any free sites for this,and personaly,i hope there never is.we do need a bit of freedom in our lives.But there are paid sites,i think from memory i saw one called??--something detective.or you can pay some government departments-but you also expose yourself as spying on someone as you have to provide al your own details to access these sites.