Graphiq Inc.

Review: [redacted] Purple [redacted]na, OH 43062###-###-####FindTheBestdba www.findthebest.comPO Box [redacted]ummerland, CA 93067September 25th, 2014RE: Cease and desist from harassment, sale, use, advertising, and/or storage/saving of PII (Personally Identifiable Information), All forms of contactDear FindTheBest:This CEASE AND DESIST ORDER is to inform you that your persistent actions including but not limited to selling my personal home address and personal cell phone number and listing it as if it is a business with a fictitious name have become unbearable. You are ORDERED TO STOP such activities immediately as they are being done in violation of the law.I have the right to remain free from these activities as they constitute harassment, and I will pursue any legal remedies available to me against you if these activities continue. These remedies include but are not limited to: contacting law enforcement to obtain criminal sanctions against you, and suing you civilly for damages I have incurred as a result of your actions.Again, you must IMMEDIATELY STOP the sale, procurement, contact, or useage of any and all PII (Personally Identifiable Information) with relation to me (located at the top of this letter) and send me written confirmation that you will stop such activities. Additionally, you must remove all instandces of my name, home address, phone numbers, emails and any other information from your system and any and all businesses and organizations that youve done business with that took this information into their systems. You must also remove all traces of my home address being related to the ficticious company Barringtons Painting & Wallcov as I am not, have not been and never will be associated, directly or otherwise, with said business. You risk incurring some very severe legal consequences if you fail to comply with this demand.Desired Settlement: This letter acts as your final warning to discontinue this unwanted conduct before I pursue legal actions against you. At this time, I am not contacting the authorities or filing civil suit against you, as I hope we can resolve this matter without authoritative involvement. I am not under any circumstances, however, waiving any legal rights I have presently, or future legal remedies against you by sending you this letter. This order acts as ONE FINAL CHANCE for you to cease your illegal activities before I exercise my rights.To ensure compliance with this letter, and to halt any legal action I may take against you, I require you to fill in and sign the attached form and mail it back to me within 10 days of your receipt of this letter. Failure to do so will act as evidence of your infringement upon my legal rights, and I will immediately seek legal avenues to remedy the situation.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted],

Review: findthecompany.com is listing a personal cell phone number as a company phone number. I have attempted to claim and edit this to remove the cell phone from the site, but this only made the posting appear "verified" rather than removing this phone number. I have attempted to contact the site through edits and emails. I have also called Dun and Bradstreet and asked them to remove this phone number. They said the would, but that was several weeks ago and the number is still on the site.Many things about this listing are inaccurate, but mostly I just want the personal cell phone number removed from the site, but I am unable to get any kind of response or action from them. Dun and Bradstreet (I don't know their relationship to Find The Company) said they would remove us, but I received no confirmation or evidence that anything has been done.Here is the listing in question:http://companies.findthecompany.com/l/8046173/Smash-Putt-Golf-in-Seattl...⇄ Settlement: I need them to minimally remove the personal cell phone number from their listing of this "company" (which is actually the name of a temporary event, not a company).

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted],

Review: I made a request to have all of my personal/private information removed (opt out) from this company's website. FindTheBest.com claims they cannot remove the information. I do not believe this is true. I have opted out of similar website with no problem. They have no right to publish anyone's personal information. There ought to be a law against this sort of thing.Desired Settlement: This company must be forced to simply honor all requests to opt out.I would like to see legal action against this company if they choose to continue publishing private information.

Business

Response:

We have the following employee

comparisons: Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Washington. These

comparisons are intended to elucidate government allocation of taxpayer

resources, as all individuals included in these databases are government

employees. We direct those who wish to be removed to the source database. The

information in question is on our site FindTheData.org under the Texas

Employees section. This information is sourced through the Texas Public

Information Act, as publicized by the Texas Tribune.

The Texas Public Information Act is a state law that

generally requires governmental agencies to release or make available for

viewing official records upon written request, with some exceptions. The Texas

Attorney General has jurisdiction over how agencies ultimately administer the

act, codified in Section 552 of the Government Code, issuing opinions about the

types of documents that must remain public and those that are confidential. The

agency also settles complaints about whether governmental bodies comply with

cost provisions associated with the act.

Even if FindTheBest manually deleted this specific listing

from our site, it would only be a temporary solution. The data in this

comparison comes from a public record and our edits or removal would not

effectively change their database. As a result, the listing would be

re-inserted into our system upon next import. For permanent alterations we have

directed Ms. Whitehead to contact the source database. Once a change has been made FindTheBest will update their information to reflect the changes.

Review: I am the Founder and Executive Director of Friends of the Animal Kingdom, Inc., a non-profit organization located in Bloomingdale, Illinois. Yesterday evening, I was scrolling through the Google Search Engine and noticed our organization was listed on "FindTheCompany.com" and "FindTheBest.com". As the Executive Director I am the person making all advertising and marketing decisions along with fund raising. The information displayed on FindTheCompany.com and FindTheBest.com is very inaccurate and it can not be updated through the website. Furthermore, I am extremely alarmed at the information contained on paragraph "FRIENDS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, INC EMPLOYEES", "ELLEN DAY" Executive Director, "BACKGROUND CHECK" with a button directed to an Internet site called "peoplesmart.com". This is illegal and no one can run a random background check on a person without written authorization or recorded voice authorization. I note the People Smart database has serious misinformation as well, including my name and other erroneous information. Since I can not speak to anyone from FindTheBest, a/k/a FindTheCompany.com, FindTheData.com and FindTheListing.com, I am asking the Revdex.com to assist in this matter. All the best, Ellen R. DayFounder & Executive DirectorDesired Settlement: Remove this listing from all databases contained by this company and provide to me and the Revdex.com copies of any unauthorized/illegal background checks performed by their affiliation with PeopleSmart.com.

Business

Response:

Dear Ms. [redacted],

Review: I request that FindtheBest.com remove my personal information from their database. I am not a business. My information, including sensitive details, such as my name, DOB, and other confidential and unique identifiers, are listed publicly on their website and are easily accessible. This is an incredibly unscrupulous tactic - FindtheBest published my personal information for their own profit and distribution without my consent and without even determining whether I am a business. Furthermore, I contacted FindtheBest to request that they remove my listing. I explained that I am in a high-risk field, and having my personal information published in this manner opens me up to significant risk of harm. Their policy is to remove information if this is the case. However, they ceased to respond without taking action. Their customer service was unacceptable and they failed to honor my request.Desired Settlement: My information must be removed from their site immediately and permanently. I have contacted them multiple times about this to no avail.

Business

Response:

Thank you for letting us know about your concern. We are assuming that this is the listing in question (http://birth-records.findthebest.com/l[redacted]). FindTheBest obtains its data from three main sources:

Review: I discovered FindTheBest published my name and salary information to their site. I immediately reviewed the site for ways to remove the link and also opt-out of any further information with my name attached. The instructions the company provides to remove and or edit links is not an available, as I have searched the site and could not locate any of the editing/removal tools. The options provided do not allow an individual to opt-out unless they are with law enforcement, otherwise the individual must contact the provider of the information and or any third parties associated with the listed information. Thus, an individual has no real genuine options to have the link removed. FindTheBest informs visitors to their site wishing to have their information removed that the company reserves the right to deny their requests. I have contact Minnesota Management & Budget to request that my name and any associated salary information be removed.Desired Settlement: I simply want the site to make removal of links and information easy for individual's to locate and allow anyone wanting links associated with their names removed without this request having to be approved by the company.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

Review: the company findthebest.com is listing my location as a company but clearly gives me no way to have my information removed from their website unless it's done electronically which is then trying to extract more information from me. when I call their business number listed with the bob, it tells me to submit requests via their website. I feel that my privacy is wrongly listed and being violated by others.Desired Settlement: have my personal information removed from their website immediately and would like a customer service representative from their company call and not to have to submit the information via a unprotected website link.

Business

Response:

Hi [redacted],

We are assuming that this is the listing in question: http://companies.findthecompany.com/l/2841572/Piranha-Production-in-Seattle-WA. FindTheCompany is a powerful research tool for finding key information on companies and organizations. Each month, millions of consumers, business owners, analysts, and sales professionals rely on FindTheCompany's free tools to make critical business decisions. FindTheCompany aggregates information from Dun and Bradstreet, Xignite, HG Data, the US Federal Government, State Governments, SEC filings, company websites, FindTheBest, and our users.

When someone contacts FindTheBest wanting to remove information from FindTheCompany, there is no push back from us. We direct them to our third party source Dun and Bradstreet, a necessary step in the removal process. If we simply delete a listing from our site it would only be a temporary solution. FindTheCompany's database mirrors Dun and Bradstreet's database. Therefore when FindTheCompany runs an update, that listing would be re-imported back onto FindTheCompany. To keep all removal changes permanent we have customers first remove their information from Dun and Bradstreet and then FindTheBest updates accordingly.

We have set up a specific phone number for customers to call and there are trained people at Dun and Bradstreet who are aware of requests related to FindTheCompany. Users can remove their information by calling a dedicated, toll-free number (800-765-3867). When you call tell them that your information in on FindTheCompany and you would like it removed. They will alert us of the changes and we will also delete it from our website. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns and thank you for helping us keep our site running well. You can contact us by email at [email protected].

Sincerely,

The FindTheBest Team

Review: I have never given my permission for any of the findthebest.com sites to store, display, use, transfer, etc. any of my personal information.I went to their website to remove my information from their site(s). However, I am required to create an account, which seems counter-intuitive. Additionally, their site states that they may or may not remove my information even if I request the removal. I do not understand why a company that does not have my permission to store, display, use, transfer my data - has this type of power.Additionally, I do not give them permission to display my name ASSOCIATED with any other person's name/information. (i.e. they do not have my permission to state my name with a relative's account.)Desired Settlement: Remove my name and all data associated with me from ALL of their servers/data storage/databases. I understand they have no control over 3rd party databases, but findthebest.com has many different websites (birth records,death records, marriage, immigration, too many to list) and I do not want my information stored/used/transferred to any of their companies/affiliates/etc.Additionally, I do not want my name associated and/or displayed with any relative's information as stated above.

Business

Response:

Thank you for letting us know about your concern. We are assuming that this is the listing in question (http://birth-records.findthebest.com/l/9[redacted]80/[redacted]). FindTheBest obtains its data from three main sources:

Review: I am contacting the Revdex.com due to Findthebest.com listing of my personal information on their website. I contacted them and told them of my circumstances concerning a stalking situation and how I was attempting to get all personal info such as this off. I am also very concerned as they list my Mother's name and I consider this sensitive info that can be used to set up accounts etc. I was told they collect my info from other state resources and I understand this. What I do not understand is why they have not assisted me in removal of the listing from their site after they said they would. When I first contacted them I received an automatic email response and no direct contact. I then contacted them with 2 additional emails. After the 3rd email I sent them I did at that time receive a response saying they had manually removed my listing. I verified this and they indeed did remove it. I thanked them for doing so. I then checked the site again a few days later only to find all my personal info again listed as before. I emailed them again and as of this morning no response. I just wish all this info to please be removed. It seems misleading to inform me that they would take off my info and do so only to put it back days later. I again ask this company to please remove all my personal info from their website. I appreciate any assistance from the company or the Revdex.com in this matterDesired Settlement: I wish the company to please remove all my personal information from their website including the link I provided them. Thank you

Business

Response:

Thank you for contacting us. We have manually deleted your listing from our site, but we want to make sure you understand that this may only be a temporary solution. As the data in this topic is sourced from a 3rd party site, this will not effectively remove you from their database. As a result, your listing could be re-inserted into our system next time we update.

Review: They are fraudulently and without permission representing false and inaccurate information on my company. This is effecting my business and reputation and resulting in lost business. Ive requested customer service to remove my listing immediately. I do not want my company information listed on their website, I did not authorize it and the information is 100% false.Desired Settlement: 100% removal of my company name, profile, contact details from their website(s)

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted],

Review: my phone # is listed under a company name that I have no relation to, i'm receiving phone calls because of that, I contacted D&B who deleted it from their system, unfortunately findthebest still keep the phone number online,I tried contacting them numerous times with no success since they do not advertise a phone # with a real person to talk to.I demand them to delete my phone number from their record so I wont get any more phone calls regarding a business I have no relation to.the company name its listed under is : urban downtown developers llc - my phone # is ###-###-####thank you.Desired Settlement: delete my phone number from this company records thank you.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. Levi,

Review: They have my business listed with a [redacted] in Bakersfield, CA[redacted] Bakersfield 93309My Phone number and website is listed with this person. I do not advertise with them and do not want to. I am also trademarked and this is infringing on my business.I called the Revdex.com a week ago and they said they would handle this but nothing got done. Also on "Findthebest.com" website they said I could setup an account with them and they would remove it, I think that is fraud and I would like someone to handle this ASAPThanks[redacted]Desired Settlement: I want this cleared up ASAP or I will contact trademark bureau and handle it that way.

Business

Response:

We are so sorry to hear that you have found an error on our website. We are assuming that this is the listing in question (http://tax-preparers.findthebest.com[redacted]). The information for this page comes from the Internal Revenue Services (http://www.irs.gov/Tax-Professionals/Enrolled-Agents/Maintain-Your-Enrolled-Age...⇄ If you believe this data is incorrect or out of date we highly encourage you to contact the IRS to request a change. In the meantime we have removed the incorrect address and phone number from the listing.

Review: Find the Best posted inaccurate information about my company on the internet, including an erroneous revenues number and my private, personal address. They claim to have been provided the information by D&B, but when I submitted my information to D&B, I made sure it would be kept private, so it was more likely hacked. In any case, the information they've made public is inaccurate and a violation of my privacy. Find the Best, ironically, does not provide a physical address, email address, or phone number of their own. They do not respond to requests through their website to remove information from their website.Desired Settlement: Remove all of my personal and company information and do not ever make it public again.http://[redacted]/Proof-Of-Concept-Optical-Engineering-Llc-in-Boulder-CO⇄ />
Business

Response:

Dear Ms. W[redacted],

Review: We "Sallow Moon Designs" are an online only business.We started to receive customers directly at our private residence, as well as phone calls to our personal phone numbers. Further research showed customers found our information published/advertised by findthecompany.com, an offshoot of findthebest.com without our consent. We have no issue with being listed in a business directory, but we do take issue with the publication of our personal information -- we are listed in the state of Delaware as an online only company so it seems to us findthebest.com did not do their diligence to ensure the integrity of our information.We have attempted to create a profile on their website to update their erroneous information, but their system gives "an unexpected error has occurred" or "please wait 2-3 business days for our staff to update this information". We've also emailed the company directly on their "contact us" portion of the site -- we are awaiting feedback. No return contact or corrections have occurred.Our family safety has been placed in jeopardy due to the irresponsible advertising of our personal information.Desired Settlement: We would like the following:1) our personal information deleted (no longer publically posted)from their website2) for this company to implement a process to check if a company is online only or an actual storefront so others who run online only web-stores do not have their personal information published.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted],

FindTheCompany is a free tool for researching over 30 million companies in the US. People use the website for a variety of reasons, from finding products and services to business intelligence (sales leads and competitor research) to seeking employment opportunities.

We have partnered with several of the most respected data providers in the industry. By bringing together dozens of top sources, we can provide the most comprehensive and authoritative database of US companies online. Examples of partners include Xignite, which powers our financial data, and the US Government, which provides official public data, such as contracts, loans, grants, and other firmographic details. The majority of the data for FindTheCompany comes from our third party source Dun and Bradstreet.

Our list of companies is based on the data collected by our partners. They gather information from a variety of places, such as court filings, statements of incorporations, user submissions, and other publically available sources. If you incorporated your business, responded to a public survey, or provided information to the government, your company was likely added to our partners’ databases.

We are under the assumption that this is the listing in question (http://companies.findthecompany.com/l/30858991/Sallow-Moon-Designs-in-Wilmingto...⇄ To remove the listing, please contact our source database, Dun and Bradstreet to process this request. The data for your page is sourced from a 3rd party site, Dun and Bradstreet, and our edits or removal would not effectively change their database. As a result, your listing will be re-inserted into our system upon next import. Updates and corrections to D&B's information can be submitted over the phone at ###-###-####. There should be no push back from the DnB team and you will not need to create an account. Once the changes have been confirmed in Dun abd Bradstreets database FindTheCompanhy will promptly update the listing on our site to reflect the changes.

We thank you for your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please feel free to contact us with further questions at [email protected].

Sincerely,

The FindTheBest Team

Review: The company's website suggests that users should be able to rely on their information to make business decisions: "By partnering with the most authoritative and trusted sources, were giving users the tools they need to research a company's reputation, explore potential partnerships, and make critical business decisions" (http://companies.findthecompany.com/p/about-us). However, that suggestion is misleading if the "data" that is gathered via a third party (Dun and Bradstreet) is inaccurate. Furthermore, marketers are using websites such as this one to spam me with business related offers. This wastes their time and mine even though the company boasts that it saves time: "FindTheCompany provides faster and deeper business intelligence resources than any other website, period. Business professionals save hours using FindTheCompany to discover sales leads, find potential partners, and identify new competitors." When I asked the company to remove the information they told me that they could only do so for a short period of time because when the system updated it would pull the record from D&B again and reappear on their site. They told me that to have it permanently removed I would need to contact their third party site myself. Although I do not currently run my own business as the posting on FindTheBest.com suggests, I do know that misleading users by perpetuating false information, and then asking the person who reports the error to fix the company's data reporting error by contacting their third party source is no way to successfully or ethically run a business. FTC is currently providing a means for marketers to obtain my personal information. (Note: I begrudgingly called D&B to have the record deleted as FTB suggested, but this company should be shut down if this is how they intend to do "business". Also, I will be filing a separate complaint against D&B for selling this inaccurate information to FTB).Desired Settlement: I would like any and all of my personal information permanently kept off of FindTheBest associated websites. I do not wish to have any of my personal information including but not limited to past and current addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses published on any public sites or sold to companies for marketing purposes. "Amanda J. LaRue" is not a company that has been in business since 2006; that information needs to be removed as well. This company should be shut down.

Business

Response:

Dear Ms. L[redacted],

Review: I recently started receiving phone calls for a company called Qosmos on my cell phone. I googled Qosmos and found that my cell phone number is listed for a company called Qosmos Inc, It was listed on FindTheBest.com. An address is listed for Qosmos Inc and I have sent them a letter asking them to correct their phone number, but I cannot find a website for Qosmos Inc. The website where I found the incorrect information is:h1b-visas.findthebest.com/1/28884/Qosmos-Inc-in-Sunnyvale-CA-94085 My cell phone is ###-###-####.The website belongs to FindTheBest, but I cannot find customer service contact information (by phone or email) to correct the problem.Desired Settlement: I would like my cell phone to be taken off their website.

Business

Response:

Dear Ms. [redacted],

Review: this site contains death record info my daughter is listed on this site with her social security number showing I want it removed the other records listed show bogus numbers. I want her name all together if possible but certainly her SSN removed. http://www.death-record.com/l/181714821/[redacted]Desired Settlement: I would like to be notified once this is taken care of.

Business

Response:

Dear Ms. [redacted],

Review: I recently discovered the existence of this website because my name, contact information, and credentials are misrepresented on the site. I have never personally requested that any of my personal or business information be posted on this website. I have attempted to change the information on the (FindTheBest) website but am so for unsuccessful. I have also attempted to make a personal contact with a customer service representative with a phone number I located on the Revdex.com website but get only a recording that refers me to the FindTheBest website where I cannot find the contact page stated on the recording.Desired Settlement: I would like to have my name, misrepresented credentials, and contact information either removed from the FindTheBest.com website or corrected to reflect my current status. Thank you for your assistance.

Business

Response:

Thank you for contacting us. We would love to help but unfortunately we cannot direct you appropriately because we do not have the link to the page on our website. Please send the link so that we can provide you with the correct steps to help you solve your issue.

Review: This company's website states that I have a business service business since 2010 with 2 employees and $100,000 income. I have never had a business in my life. This website not only has my address and phone number but a picture of my home posted. There is no phone number or email address to contact them and I have read complaints about this business' practices and the difficulty getting a response from them. This is pure fraud. I would be on no company's database as owning a business. I want this information removed as soon as possible.Desired Settlement: Remove my name and all information from their website immediately or I will be contacting the proper authorities.

Business

Response:

Hi J[redacted],

Review: This company FindTheBest.com, which also uses the name FindTheData.org, has repeatedly ignored and denied my written emailed requests to remove and delete sensitive information that it is advertising about me on their website without my consent or permission. I have also contacted D&B and they have removed my info as Findthebest suggests but cannot get them yet to remove my info even after calling and leaving owner a voicemail. Most reputable websites and companies have an easy, simple opt/out removal form when compromising public or sensitive information is being advertised or published against someone's consent or permission on a company's website, but FindTheData.org is not one of them as there is no way to edit o remove as they suggest. The company's auto-email responses to my removal requests have been met with defiance and misleading references to state statutes, which are taken out of context and are in conflict with federal privacy laws. All I want is my private listing information removed from their website http://alturl.com/m3s5v . I am requesting the help of the Revdex.com to have this company immediately remove and delete all of my listing information from FindTheBest.org website and those they own since my requests from this company has been repeatedly ignored.Desired Settlement: Please delete this link http://alturl.com/m3s5v (shortened with url tool) from any and all of your websites. Thank you and it really shouldn't be this had to get things done and sorry I had to resort to Revdex.com but you left me no choice. :(

Business

Response:

Dear **,