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Zaba Search offers free people-search; Critics site privacy concerns

Looking for a former classmate? A long-lost pal? Try Zaba Search.com, a free search engine that derives information from public domain sources. ("Zaba” apparently comes from the Greek word “tzaba” which means free.)

Zabasearch utilizes data from PeopleData.com and provides information such as phone, address and birthdate for free while charging visitors $20 to $100 for a background check on an individual.

Zaba’s creators have recently decided to take their extensive people database a step further by adding a new blogging feature, which will effectively allow registered users to post comments about individuals. Its not clear how Zaba will deal with potentially libelous or defamatory comments that can be made on the blog relatively anonymously.

To some people, particularly those with concerns about stalkers or identity theft, this search tool is an invasion of privacy that exposes millions of people’s personal information on the internet. Zabasearch.com’s owners insist that the internet is already a source for much of this information, while their goal is to deliver it more effectively. Zaba Search’s spokesman and president Robert Zakari simply declares “it is a natural evolution in technology... the most basic thing you can do on the internet is contact other people. Why does that have to cost something like $10?”