These days, it feels like you can’t go onto a website without being asked for a little piece of your identity, like your email address, birthday, phone number, or credit card. None of it seems like a big deal in the moment. We did some research into the sites people most often regret handing their details to (see the sources at the end). Here is a list of sites people regret revealing their personal information to.
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Ashley Madison
Users of this cheating-focused dating site discovered the hard way that even when a site promises discretion, nothing is guaranteed, especially after a massive data breach exposed millions of profiles and financial details. Privacy was the complete opposite of what users got.
You trusted Facebook to keep your data safe, but in 2018, it was revealed that millions of users’ profiles were siphoned off to influence political campaigns. It turned out that sharing quizzes or apps on Facebook could mean giving away way more than you realized.
MySpace
Once the “it” social media platform, MySpace collected tons of personal data—and it didn’t handle it securely. A later breach exposed millions of users’ login credentials, which still haunt the internet today.
People-search or data broker sites
Sites like Whitepages, Spokeo, and PeopleFinder gather your name, address, and phone number from public records, and list them online for anyone to see. Many regret how easily that info is sold and re‑sold.
Quora
This popular question-and-answer site had a breach in 2018, exposing over 100 million users’ data: usernames, emails, the whole package. Many didn’t even know they had to worry about their privacy there.
Dropbox
In 2012, Dropbox was hacked and nearly 69 million user records were leaked, including passwords. Lots of folks learned too late that storing personal info in even ‘trusted’ cloud services can come with risks.
Adobe
Adobe is a software company with a user base to rival most social media platforms. They had a user database breach in 2013 (and another breach later) that compromised the personal information of more than 150 million users. People now wish they’d been more cautious about how much they shared there.
LinkedIn data went public in breaches, including one in 2012 when millions of user profiles, including emails and public data, were exposed. A reminder: even professional networking sites aren’t immune.
eBay
Back in 2014, eBay suffered a serious hack exposing 145 million user accounts. Suddenly, all those saved preferences, addresses, or purchase histories were exposed and many users only found out in panic.
Truecaller
This phone directory app exposed massive amounts of personal data in 2019, nearly 299 million users’ data was at risk, revealing how even contact-sharing apps can leak your info.
Friend Finder Network
In 2016, this social platform, covering sites like Adult Friend Finder, was hacked, exposing over 400 million user records. Many people regret ever trusting that platform with their personal details.
Google+
Google’s attempt at a social network encouraged people to share profiles, photos, and connections. It later shut down after multiple privacy flaws were exposed, leaving users regretting how much personal information they poured into a platform that didn’t even last.
Sources: The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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