Family name search--is it safe?

Don't quite know what board this question fits, but here goes: I've often wondered what happens if I do a search for my family name (like in Google), or click one of those "Find your high school classmates" boxes. Is there a security issue here, like getting something embedded that ZoneAlarm won't catch? Or do I open my computer to all kinds of unwanted solicitations and spam in general? Thanks for any opinions.

 

Good question. I imagine a lot depends on the particular site, and what all they ask for. I'm usually VERY leery of putting personal information on any site unless I'm very sure about them. Classmates.com is a known quantity. Google collects aggregate information (general info about what sites/links get hits from the various searches, which helps them put the most useful ones first in the search results. If you use the Google Toolbar, which is very handy if you do a lot of Googline, they CAN collect more personal inforation, but you can disable it if you choose.

As far as the genealogy search sites, I dunno. I guess you could put in the information for a friend and then watch to see if they get buried in SPAM.