Frankfurt  - "People watching" is becoming an online art. Except instead of sitting in a cafe to watch the passers-by, online sleuths are piecing together items one clue at a time to create an entire profile of their target of interest.

Every month, millions of people use online search engines to learn more about others. Accessing information freely available online, they can track down documents a person has authored, events at which a person has appeared, pictures, contact details and sometimes, even credit card numbers.

That means privacy is becoming a thing of the past as people's urge to snoop is great. Some people are noticing just now how much information is online. But complaints to data security agencies probably have very little chance of effecting changes in what is allowable and possible.

"It's a natural craving, to learn something about other people," said Marko Ubovic a marketing manager for Yasni, a people finder service.

Ubovic says most people put their own name into a search engine first. "Recent data security scandals have created some sensitivity about personal data."

That means the so-called ego searches have only increased in number. Additionally, customers like to do searches on family and friends. "And also people they don't like so much," Ubovic admits. It is often in those cases where the user hopes to dig up some buried information.

AGOF, a German online research group, reports an average of 2.69 million discrete users log on to Yasni every month - more than use the online yellow pages in Germany.

"About one-third of all online searches are related to people," said Ubovic. "We make sure that the search goes faster."

Search results are the same as those yielded by a basic search with Google, the industry leader. But, with Yasni, data is put together in a format that is easier to view. Other companies, like 123people or Spock offer similar services.

"Yasni is a meta search engine," explains Ralf Menger of Germany's national data security department. The search engines search through other services, as well as social networking sites like Xin or studiVZ.

"But these services don't find people, just names," he said. That means results for common names comes up with multiple identities. Only people who register can then provide the right details to put together a profile.

About 500,000 people have signed on to Yasni since it started up 17 months ago. Nonetheless, around 500 profiles a month are deleted because they are no longer used. Ubovic says that the company assumes these are fake entries.

The temptation for the curious is huge as registration is free. The company finances itself with advertising.

German media have criticized the practice of fishing for e-mail addresses, political activities and old sins. Even profiles that have been deleted can crop back up: in a computer's cache, a search machine's memory or on an old blog.

Even digital customer tags at online stores like Amazon can be used in an internet search, letting trackers learn about a person's favourite books and movies. This could be especially galling for people who do their shopping online precisely because they hope for some anonymity.

German authorities received 50 complaints as a result. "That's a lot," said Menger.

But he doesn't accuse Yasni of anything. "Search engines are unavoidable in the internet. And information found online is the responsibility of the person who put it there, not the person who found it."

Indeed, Menger says the trend has made people more appreciative of data security offices, as data security workers have made people aware of potentially sensitive information found online. But the question remains: who's going to find that sensitive online information first? A neighbour? A partner? A boss? Or the person who left it out there in the first place? (dpa)