For $US95 anyone can buy a bundle of 70,000 Australian online dating profiles. If you think yours isn’t one of them, here’s a question: What service are you using and how carefully did you read those terms of service?
BetaBeat reports that businesses like SaleDatingProfiles.com are unloading online the things wholesale. The facts are shocking. Meet Angela, one of the commoditized profiles BetaBeat bought online:
Angela was included in a 1,000-pack of allegedly single, supposedly American women, which Betabeat purchased for $US35. Her profile is one of a purported 14.9 million for sale on SaleDatingProfiles.com, where the inventory also includes 10,000 U.K. profiles for $US200; 15,000 Russians for $US240, and 70,000 Australians for $US95. A pack of 2,500 lesbian profiles goes for $US120, or 4.8 cents apiece; gay men are .003 cents each and are sold in a pack of 410,000. “High quality Gays adult dating profiles for sale with multiplay photos located in USA, United Kingdom, Canada and other countries,” the offer states. At the time of writing, SaleDatingProfiles was having a 75-percent-off spring sale.
Angela, like millions of other people had no idea her profile was for sale online. That there’s a market for these profiles is unsurprising. They’re frequently used to populate new online dating services to get them off the ground. SaleDatingProfiles.com for example operates 150 dating sites online. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Services like these are endless.
While that’s pretty terrifying, you might have nothing to worry about — especially if you’re using legitimate services that aren’t totally and expressly all about getting laid. The purveyors of most of the popular dating websites we’ve heard of seem to be in the clear. According to BetaBeat Badoo, Match.com, OKCupid, PlentyOfFish Spark.com, JDate and ChristianMingle all denied selling profiles. Even AdultFriendFinder’s Privacy Policy says they won’t sell that information online.
Are you using a shady service? Time to get yourself checked out. [BetaBeat]