Essential Research Links

 
Find information & web sites
Dmoz
Lists of sites sorted into subjects. Directories are oten easier than Googling.  See also Yahoo and the Virtual Library		 Dogpile
Meta searches search the search engines. Sadly differences in syntax tend to hamper "meta searches", but see also Mamma
Complete Planet
Databases by subject. Content often missed by regular search engines.		 Search Engine Colossus
Finds search engines from other countries
Ask an Expert
 Volunteer "experts" answer questions on anything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to chemical engineering.		 BUBL
Lists official sites of UK education, government, social & cultural bodies
Search Engine Watch
Lists alternative sites which may have more search functionality than Google. 		Bing
allows you to search a server's IP address for words on the sites it hosts.
Make your own search engine
Google allows you to make your own custom designed search engine. Just give it a list of sites to search through.		 Go back in time
with the Wayback Machine. See also, its Egyptian mirror site and developing new portal. The Wayback machine isn't the only web option. Here are some other archives. 
FOIA Requests
See who is requesting what under the Freedom of Information Act.		 Search iTunes
Let's you find podcasts by country, for example.
 
Social Network Analysis tools
Software that lets you visualise data and establish connections between people.		 Data mining tools
From the amazing Datatracker website - software that lets you extract and collate information from databases.
Private Search
Duckduckgo doesn't track your usage. Neither does https://www.ixquick.com/		  
Video, audio and images
Midomi
identifies music but you need to be able to sing into your computer's mic! Otherwise, Shazzam on your iPhone.		 Google Video
Find videos on various sources including youtube, liveleak and aol. See also OVGuide for a keyword search within subjects.
Real Media Search finds audio & video recorded in Real Media format. You'll need Real Player to play this. Sites like Grooveshark, WE7 and Skreemr find mp3 files. Jeffrey's EXIF viewer
Displays information hidden in image files (such as GPS, camera model, whether the image has been edited) See also gbimg and GeoSetter
Tineye
A new development is search technology, Tineye analyses images and finds websites which have the same photo.		 Corbis and Getty Images
Both the above sites let you find commercial images. Photobucket  Flickr & Google are also good sources.
News, blogs, papers and radio
Press Display
A directory that lets you view newspapers from across the world. See also Kidon Media Link, thepaperboy and frontpages today 		Tunein
A great way to link directly to online streaming radio broadcasts. See also vTuner and Other radio directories
News Archives
List of online newspapers with searchable archives. For early articles, try Google's news archive search.		 News Now
 Plugs you directly into the latest breaking news. Good UK representation. See also Google News.
Lexis Nexis
 Fantastic news article archive, but paid subscription only. See also BBC News for breaking news related to UK stories		 Technorati and Google's Blog Search
Two of the best ways to search through millions of weblogs. Or try DIGG for the hottest stories at any moment.
Find people
Search Facebook
See also Search Twitter, Search Linkedin, Search MSN and  Youropenbook		 People research tools
 You can also use Paul's Social Network Search, namechk, wink, yoname, yasni and Pipl to find people and search social networks. If you have an email address, type it directly into a social network's search box for its related account.
192.com
Search the UK electoral roll, phonebook, company information, birth, marriage & death certificates. See also Cameo If your company has an account with 192, then use their corporate portal.		 Phonebooks
 Infobel brings you a database of online telephone directories

Advanced Twitter Search
See also Twellow (a Yellow Pages of Twitter) and Twitter Cnuts a nifty way of tracking Twitter conversations.

 Databases 
has the person you are investigating been made bankrupt? Are they involved with a charity? Do they own a patent? Or run a company? Or own a property?
They Work For You
Political research. Investigate your MP!		 Friends Reunited
 Can be a very useful research tool. The biographical notes can provide good search keywords.
Google forum search 
allows you to search message boards and newsgroups. Also use this search macro to search Yahoo Groups using Google		 Google Groups
Searches Google message boards and also USENET posts dating back to 1980's USENET. Cyberfiber also tunes into newsgroups.
Amazon wish lists
An novel way of tracing someone and profiling their tastes and interests.		 Know UK
Search essential & exclusive sources e.g. Who's Who (subscription) also Biography - biogs of international figures
International Name Variations
 Provides spelling variations for names Romanised from other languages. e.g. the six ways to spell "Dimitri".		 Facebook visualiser
Lets you view your Facebook friends as clickable, dragable nodes. .
i2's Analyst Notebook
Allows you to audit and visualise your investigation. As amazing tool.		 zbucket
Match a Photobucket account to an email address.
Business research
Companies House
Incl. the Disqualified Director list. The paid service is fantastic! You can also get company information from 192.com if you have a subscription. Search for Financial services companies on the FSA Database.		 International Companies - Investigative Dashboard
See also Intl Business Registers, Companies House's lists. Forums like Silicon Investor and Raging Bull  Also, specialist services like Edgar Online
UK Data
Subscribe and get company reports, CCJ details and international company information		 Background Check
for personal details, addresses & criminal records of US citizens. Don't forget to search linkedin - a business-oriented network
Say No to 0870!!!
Search and reverse search UK companies that cold call or have 0780 contact numbers.		 Phonebooks
 Infobel brings you a database of online telephone directories
Investigative and undercover
Secure Email
Your IP address and ISP's name show up in emails you send. Hushmail & Gmail will hide this information from recipients.		 Online Virus Scan
 Free online check for the latest viruses - no need to install any software.

Privacy Test

Your IP address (displayed in the image above) traces back to your Internet connection and can allow sites you visit to identify you.

Find free anonymous proxies
Websites can read unique details about your computer, browser and connection. Proxies like Anonymouse hide these details - to an extent - but make sure you test your proxy and overcome any security flaws if you are involved in a high-risk investigation.		 Anonymizer
Encrypts your web communications and gives you an anonymous IP address. Sadly, like all proxies, it doesn't hide your real IP address from Java and Flash applets.
Jondo - anonymous web surfing
A free, anonymized and portable IP proxy and security enhanced browser.		 Proxycap
and Widecap can ensure that Java and Firefox-based Flash route communications through proxies like Total Net Shield or Jodonym.
PGP
Create a password "key" that lets you encrypt data files and text. Swap keys with friends to exchange encrypted emails. 		 ReadNotify
Send an email which reveals the ISP of the recipient. See also Sitemeter which tracks the IP address of web page readers. See also myiptest.com
No-script
A Firefox add-on that stops Java, Flash and other security threatening scripts from automatically loading when you visit a webspage. 		Change Flash Settings
By setting "Global Storage" to none, you can stop Flash saving materiel on your computer. Security-conscious users may also want to clear their Flash history.
Indirect linking
A website can detect how people got to it. Avoid direct linking, if this could compromise your story. Anonym acts as a cut-out.		 Computer Forensics
 Law enforcement agencies often use software like Encase and FRED to recover data files.
Jeffrey's EXIF viewer
Displays information hidden in image files (such as GPS, camera model, whether the image has been edited) See also gbimg and GeoSetter		 Private Search
Duckduckgo doesn't track your usage. Neither does https://www.ixquick.com/

 

Other useful links
Cryptome
Cryptography, espionage & intrigue. See also Wikileaks for exclusive leaked documents from whistleblowers.		 Johhny's I HACK STUFF
Clever but subversive Google searches. A real eye openr and inspiration.
Tiny URL
Turns a long, ugly web address into neat, small practical one

Wiki Scanner
Check the edits that an organisation has made to Wikipedia entries.
Bug Me Not!
Gives generic logins for "free registration" sites, Save so much time!
Server Logs
see who's been visiting a site. Look out for icons like these:

Total Recorder
Captures any audio & video. Pauses during periods of silence. Great for recording streaming media, chatrooms, skype, videos.

Camstudio
Free program that captures video and audio from your computer.

Currency Converter
 What it says on the tin

Firefusk
 A plugin extension for the Firefox browser, Firefusk scans web servers for sequentially numbered images.

Old Version
 Earlier versions of popular free software (e.g. winzip, zone alarm)		 Docscrubber
A free program that reveals the "meta information" hidden in documents.
Restore erased files
 Turbo File Uneraser is a free tool that searches disks and flashcards for remnants of data files that have been erased.

Journalismnet
 Fantastic research links, contacts and study material. See also, Freepint hangout for hip young researchers & librarians!
Active Ports
 A free program which lets you monitor which IP addresses your computer is connected to at any point. Not for Vista.		 Mandy.com
Production jobs and contacts. See also: Creative Match, , Radio Directory,  Hold the Front Page, Production Base
GeoSetter
Reads hidden "EXIF" data in images, sometimes allowing you to determine the location the photo was taken at. See also gbimg		 Check Torrent Downloads
Run an IP address into this search to see which files it has been downloading.

 

© MMVIIII