They Know Where You Live

Someone you have never met could find your home address in less than five minutes.

They don’t need to be a hacker. They don’t need special training. They don’t even need to break the law. All they need is your name, your phone number, or even just a few photos from your social media account. With that information alone, a stranger can often locate your house, see what it looks like, and pinpoint exactly where you live on a map.

Most people believe their home address is private. They assume that only friends, family, and trusted institutions know where they live. But in the modern world, that assumption is dangerously wrong. Your address may already be listed on dozens of websites, stored in databases, and shared by companies you’ve never even heard of.

Your home — the place where you sleep, where your family lives, where you feel safe — is no longer as hidden as you think.

This is not paranoia. It is reality.

Every day, billions of pieces of personal information are bought, sold, traded, and stored online. Companies known as data brokers collect details about your life and package them into profiles that may include your name, phone number, relatives, workplace, and home address. These profiles can be accessed by marketers, private investigators, criminals, and curious strangers alike.

Read more in the book.