Ads
There are many reasons to discreetly search for information about someone. You could have interviewed a candidate for a critical position and could be looking to verify their details before making the hiring decision. You might want to find out more about a potential employer that you would like to work for. Or you could simply be looking to get in touch with a long-lost high school friend or an old work colleague.
A few decades back, this used to be a time-consuming and draining task. But not anymore. The wonders of technology have made it possible for anyone to dig deep into the personal life of quite literally anyone. The amount of information available to you today is simply astounding and with the help of technology, you could be sifting through billions and trillions of data within a matter of seconds. And best of all, you can do all these while remaining completely anonymous.
So let’s look at 5 simple technology tools that could help you find all sorts of information on just about anyone.
- People search sites
If you only have a name, address, or phone number in possession to begin your search with, or you would like to access a significant amount of personal information, then people search sites are the best option for you.
These sites maintain massive databases of profiles belonging to millions of individuals. They are developed by collecting data from various sources and filtering and sorting them into organized content. This allows people search sites to provide you an incredible amount of information about nearly anyone within a specific geographical area. These can range from family details to financial records and properties and asset ownerships.
And these sites can even offer reverse search features. Nuwber, for instance, allows its customers to reverse search using an address or a phone number. This makes people search sites an extremely useful and versatile tool to research anyone.
However, keep in mind that you can only access a limited amount of information for free. While this might be sufficient for your purpose, you will need to subscribe to their paid services for a more in-depth report.
- Search Engines
According to Google, its index consists of “hundreds of billions of webpages and is well over 100,000,000 gigabytes in size”. This represents a truly inconceivable amount of data by just one search engine. It also gives you an idea of the incredible amount of information out there to sift through. And search engines will do all the work for you and can retrieve any relevant search results in a fraction of a second.
Best of all, search engines are completely free and accessible to anyone, anywhere. They can also perform reverse image searches to help you search its massive web of data using a photo or an image.
Having said that, you also need to keep in mind their limitations, so you understand when and how to use this technology tool more effectively. One constraint to consider is that search engines can only retrieve pages they have indexed. This means that if the search engine is unable to crawl and index a particular web page for whatever reason, then it will not turn up in the search results. And this could prevent you from finding valuable information.
- Social media
Social media has managed to capture more than half the world’s population today. So it doesn’t come as a surprise how useful it can be as a source of personal information.
Depending on which platform you choose, the data you can retrieve is quite diverse in nature. For example, social media sites like Facebook and Instagram can provide some useful insights into an individual’s personality, preferences, and tastes through how they network and interact with others and the type of content they engage with. Whereas a platform such as LinkedIn could help you with professional details and interests.
However, keep in mind that you will need to verify the information you uncover from social platforms. This is because many people often exaggerate what they share on these mediums.
- Location trackers
Location tracking apps are commonly used by employers, especially with remote working staff and employees that require traveling or when running a logistics operation. These are extremely useful to keep track of work hours and even for remote supervision of employees.
And there are plenty of location trackers that are also available for personal use, for instance, if you want to ensure the safety of your child.
These come as free tools as well as paid apps, which often provide more secure services with better features than their free counterparts. They can be easily downloaded from app stores such as Google Play and Apple App Store. However, keep in mind that third-party apps also carry the risk of downloading malware or collecting and sharing personal information. Therefore, ensure that you select a reputed location tracking tool for your purpose.
- Caller ID apps
We also included Caller ID apps in our list, since their advantages are often taken for granted or not understood properly by many people.
These apps maintain extensive user-generated databases that allow them to provide their caller ID services. This makes them quite useful to instantly find the identity of an unfamiliar caller. And in addition to that, they can also help you identify and block spam or fraudulent calls. This service is again provided with the help of their user feedback.
A final word
While these technology tools will give you fast and anonymous access to an incredible amount of data, it’s important to practice caution about how you use them. Ultimately, everyone deserves a personal life and, therefore, respecting others’ privacy is essential when you access private or confidential information. So, use these tools with discretion, and be respectful and ethical about how you use the information you retrieve.
