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Well I have read several articles about Privacy in this Digital world and thought I would write this tid bit to help you out.  You will be surprised at how much information is available to anyone connected to the internet.  Yes it’s very scary.  Now I am not talking about MySpace or Facebook.  These sites however let you govern what’s out there about you.  You will be surprised what people can find about you on the internet using your name, OR address, OR phone number for instance your Legal name, full birth date, and how many family members in the same house hold.   Try this, in a Google search just type in your phone number. Pretty amazing huh? Google directions to your house how awesome is that.  This article will not only help you cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive, but it will also make it harder for the average person to track you down.

Warning: I will warn this to everyone, never lie to the government.  Lying, misleading, or defrauding the government is illegal.  No passing GO, you go straight to jail.  Do not misconstrue anything in this article to disregard the government.  When giving your information to the government, ALWAYS give the correct information.

So what is a name anyway?  Webster’s dictionary defines “name” as “a word or symbol used in logic to designate an entity.” What I suggest is creating a second name or nickname for all those online forms.  Most sites do not care what you put as a first or last name on an online form.  After all, even five year olds know not to talk to strangers and yet we, as all grown up and educated adults, talk to strangers by filling out all those online forms.

1. For Starters, get an unlisted number!  It’s only $2 bucks extra a month.  It’s not a huge sum of money for consideration of the additional privacy.  However it’s only private if you keep it that way.  Don’t give your number out.  Keep your phone number off website registrations, make up a number if its needed.
2. The Do Not Call Registry.  The national Do Not Call Registry was established by the federal government to allow consumers to “opt out” of marketing telephone calls.  There are a few exemptions from this registry: surveys, businesses, and charities/political organizations.  Add your phone number to http://www.donotcall.gov.  It should be noted that telemarketers are NOT allowed to call cell numbers, but they do.  I would personally add your cell number as well.  Note: This does not apply for businesses.
3. Opt-Out Prescreen.  Are you tired of those “pre-approved” credit card offers in the mail? The three credit reporting bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, are kind enough to let you opt out of the sale and sharing of your private information.  To stop these pre-approved trash go to http://www.optoutprescreen.com.  Many people do not realize how effective this is against Identity theft.  Anyone could just walk up to your mailbox and steal those offers right out of your box.  Why take the chance, you are going to end up shredding them anyways.
4. Junk Mail and Marketing. This next section is how to fight against Junk mail and advertisements trying to make you feel lucky you just won a million bucks.
   1. Acxiom. Much like the “pre-approved” cards, Acxiom sells your information to marketers, who then send you junk mail.  To “opt out” simply go to http://www.acxiom.com/opt-out-request-form and fill out the form listed on that page.  They will send you a “opt out” form in the mail, fill it out and send it back.  Done deal.
   2. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The DMA is reason number two your mailbox gets cluttered with junk mail.  They also sell your address and information to advertisers. So how do they do it?  Well those little barcodes on your key chains (grocery store club like cards) these cards keep tabs on what you buy, how much and how often.  Now you know why they are insisted that you use their free card.  Noting is for free.  Go to www.dmachoice.org to find out how to remove you from these databases.  From my understanding, you can still use your card after removing yourself.  Heck use your second nickname or PO Box if you must have these cards.
   3. Choicepoint.  Choicepoint pretty much sells your address information just like Axicom.  To “opt-out” go to http://www.privacyatchoicepoint.com/optout_ext.html and fill out their form.
5. 5. Now hiding your information on the Internet. Now it’s time to fight back against commercial sale of your information and regain back your identity.  Some tips that will help.  For spam, use a disposable email address (such as Hotmail, Yahoo! And Gmail) for filling out forms, that way you are not bogging down your primary email address with junk.  Also don’t give away more information than is required when filling out forms.  If it’s optional, don’t put it.
   1. 411.com, whitepages.aol.com, phonenumber.com, and whitepages.com. Search for your name and click on it to show the results.  About halfway down the page you will see a small link that says, “Is this you? Remove listing” Click it and give a reason why it needs to be removed.  It doesn’t matter what the reason is.  Your listing will be removed.
   2. Anywho.com Find your listing.  Then go to http://www.anywho.com/help/privacy_list.html and enter the phone number that was contained in the listing.  The system will generate a number, most likely 1-732-978-5000.  Call that number in the listing and you will be removed.
   3. People.yahoo.com Find your listing, then go to http://yahoo.intelius.com/optout.php, fill the form out with the information contained in the listing, and then click “remove me.”
   4. Find.person.superpages.com. Once again find your listing, click on “update listing” under your address shown.  Warning: Do not delete the information shown, instead scroll down and click the “online removal form”.  Enter code, and click “remove me.”
   5. Switchboard.intelius.com.  Same as before, find your listing then go to http://switchboard.intelius.com/optout.php.  Fill out the form and click “remove me.”
   6. Zabasearch.com. This is not an easy one. Find your listing, and open a new tab or another browser and go to http://www.zabasearch.com/block_records/block_by_mail.php.  (Do not click the option to pay Zabasearch $20 to block your record instantly.  You can do this by mail for free). Follow the instructions to remove your information.
   7. Daplus.us Search for your name and look through the second box to find your listing.  Open a new tab or browser and go to http://www.daplus.us/remove.aspx and fill out the form with your information.  If the site has multiple variations of your information, you will need to fill it out multiple times.  They are slow, so don’t expect your information to be removed right away.  Keep checking back.
   8. Peoplefinders.com.  The removal is like ZabaSearch.  Go to http://www.peoplefinders.com/privacy.aspx for details.  They ask you to include address information going back 20 years, but if it nothing shows up then you are probably good to go, they probably do not have your information.
   9. Intelius.com.  Here is the tricky part and is more extreme.  But how much is your privacy worth to you?  So you must subscribe to intelius.  Before getting started, a suggestion is to go buy a $50 Visa Gift card since you do not want to give away your information and you will need a credit card number.  So subscribe to the site using the gift card for a 24-hour unlimited pass for $19.95.  You can now search their database for all of your friends and family.   Resources say you can print off the listings and fax them to fax: (425) 974-6194.  They will remove you in a few days.
   10. Usearch.com As with Intelius, you must subscribe to their listing as well for $19.95.  Using the same procedure as searching, open a new tab or browser and go to http://www.ussearch.com/consumer/optout/submitoptout.do.  Now you have two choices to remove your information.
       1. 1. Mail the forms to: Opt-Out Department Service Center 600 Corporate Pointe, Suite 220 Culver City, CA 90230
       2. 2. Fax the forms to (310)822-7898
   11. Classmates.com. Yes this silly site where you want to keep track of your old classmates and reunions. How innocent is that?  Well they sell your information.  To remove your info go to http://www.classmates.com/cmo/user/remove.

So hopefully your information is removed from the free public internet.  You should bookmark all of those sites and keep checking back to make sure your information is gone or if you haven’t been keeping a low-key lifestyle remove it again.  Well bad news, your information is still out there which is impossible to get rid of it all.  But you have removed it from the non-paying public.  From now on most sites that require online information will be sent to the paying sites.  The most persistent people will have to pay for your information.

Reference 6-Pack: 2600

Hello, welcome fellow bloggers. I hope this site is resourceful.

Regards,
Bryan