It is always interesting to me to find new ways to navigate through the the World Wide Web. Most recently when I was traveling the information superhighway, I came across a search engine specifically geared towards finding information about people. It is called “Pipl.”
This is a great tool for that can serve many purposes. It’s great for:
(1) Finding out what, if any of your personal information is on the internet.
(2) Finding web sites you may have signed up for years ago, but have long since forgotten. (Maybe that’s where all of that junk email is coming from!)
(3) Finding a lost relative, friend, classmate…. etc.
‘Googling yourself ‘ has always been the most popular route for accomplishing these tasks, but pipl.com takes this search one step further by including the “deep web.”
WHAT IS THE ‘DEEP WEB‘?
In brief, the ‘deep web’ is the part of web sites that is not generally indexed by standard search engines. Another term used to describe these web pages, or databases that are ‘beneath the web’s surface’ is “the invisible web.” These web pages are generally hidden from standard search engines due to their innate limitations. Pipl was designed to use more advanced methods to find searchable databases and a number of other hidden web resources to bring you the most comprehensive web results pertaining to an individual. (For further explanation from wikipedia on the ‘deep web’, click on the link in the subtitle.)
I did a search on my own name and was able to clean up a lot of old accounts. I found some information that I preferred not be so accessible and was then able to go and eliminate this information. (Generally it was information I had forgotten about.)
This “people search engine” is a great tool if you really want to go and not just search the net, but get down and scour its deepest parts. Give it a run, you might be surprised.
Happy Hunting!