SAN FRANCISCO – December 17, 2015 – Pipl, Inc. announced today that it will increase journalists’ ability to research and fact-check sources by providing free access to its commercial search technology. Through free access to Pipl SEARCH and Pipl API, journalists will be able to locate email and social media contact information not provided by traditional research databases nor easily found using generic search engines.
Pipl’s search engine is already used by journalists to quickly verify source details, including job titles and job history, age, phone numbers, social media handles and even the source’s physical appearance. Today, the company has also begun offering journalists access to its commercial developer tool, the People Data API, to better utilize the information in Pipl’s database of over 10 billion people records.
“Concerned members of the public have warned for years that new technology is eroding the ability of reporters to produce quality journalism, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Matt Hertz, Pipl’s CEO. “Pipl is offering members of the media the ability to harness Big Data to improve the reach and accuracy of their reporting — free of charge.”
Journalists will receive access to the Pipl API as part of Pipl’s Community key program, which provides $300 worth of API searches per month free of charge to non-profit organizations. Journalists working for accredited media outlets will be allowed to sign-up for the program regardless of the size or tax status of their news organization.
With the API journalists can:
– Quickly locate next-of-kin and associates of fatalities of major news events.
– Find emails and cellphone numbers for interview subjects that keep a low profile.
– Find the correct spelling of sources’ names through reverse look-ups using contact information.
– Use historical data from social media profiles to fact-check claims by sources.
“At Pipl we are doing our small part to encourage quality news reporting by making our technology available to journalists for free,” explained Hertz. “It may not benefit our bottom-line, but it supports our goal of using Big Data to restore trust in an online world.”
Journalists who would like access to the free Community key for the API should fill out their contact information at Pipl’s API page for investigation and research.
About Pipl, Inc.
Pipl is the online identity information company, providing unmatched global coverage with an index of over 3 billion identities, corroborated across more than 25 billion records. We serve fraud and investigation professionals in a wide variety of industries. Pipl SEARCH and Pipl API are reducing customer friction, speeding case resolution times, and mitigating the risks associated with fraud.
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