Who's Googling You

ROCKVILLE, Md. (WUSA) -- Medhi Pirzadeh works in Maryland, but, he can be found all over the world.

His profile is listed on a site called Ziggs.com. It's kind of an upscale Facebook for the professional set.

"The reality is that people will do searches on me," says Pirzadeh.

But, he's not worried about being strung out in cyberspace because he controls what people read about him. His employer, Mason Dixon, likes that idea. They encourage every employee to do the same thing.

"Anybody from any country can look you up and find you in 10 seconds," says Bradley Cohen.

Ziggs founder and CEO Tim DeMello likes to think of it as an internet caller ID.

DeMello says, "Some people get five, six searches in a day, and if you didn't know that was happening you are at a slight disadvantage."

The site immediately alerts users when someone has searched them. Then, a map with tiny flags show the exact location of the person who just googled them.

Guilherme Roschke, with the Electronic Privacy Information Center says, "You can lose control of it once it's up, and it can be used against you in many ways."

That's one concern. Privacy experts say while you've opened the door to be found you won't know who's walking through it.

"We don't provide the name of the individual who typed in your name in the search engine," says Tom DeMello.

But millions of users like these two mortgage brokers take that chance everyday, and they are happy with the results.

Sites like Ziggs and Naymz let you control your destiny for free. But privacy experts say these kinds of sites could sell your personal information to advertisers and they don't always tell you before you sign up.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center says no matter how careful consumers are, ultimately the websites have their information and is responsible for keeping it secure.

But users can consider a few steps.

Be informed about how websites use your data, and demand from them more information if the websites' privacy policies are unclear.

Don't be afraid to demand privacy: when you want to have your profile deleted, ask companies for that.

Use an "Internet name" or other pseudonym that your friends know but that others don't link to you. Also, avoid using your real birth day; pick another date in the same year that you will remember.

Respect the privacy of others, not sharing their information without their permission.

Use a different login (name and password) for your profiles as you do for your email or online banking.