We've all gotten the e-mail: "Find anyone, anywhere on the Web!" But how much truth is there in the promises? We track down the Web sites, the software, and the scams related to online background checking.

Now more than ever, when it comes to your safety, you can't be too careful.

The events of this fall have caused many of us to question basic assumptions about people we know, and, unfortunately, to sometimes suspect those we don't. Your daughter's boyfriend, your child's nanny, a prospective employee or employer: Are they who they claim to be? How do you know? And if you don't know for sure, how do you find out?

The Net ought to be the perfect resource for putting paranoia to rest. On the other hand, since the Web teems with personal information, your own privacy could be at risk. Simply type a name into a search engine, click one of those e-mail messages that urges you to find out anything about anybody, or visit an information broker, and the amazing Internet will lay your subject's secrets bare. Right?

Not exactly. Some information simply isn't on the Internet. What is there may be incomplete, inaccurate, or available only for a price. And if you're primarily interested in finding your personal data so that you can remove it, good luck. It's not easy to erase your online identity. Still, there are some tricks for getting much of the information you seek--as well as some ways to be reasonably satisfied that your personal data is not available. Here's how.

Finding people finders

Ultimately, you may find that you have to pay for the data you really want.

The public eye

Public directories such as Switchboard, AnyWho, or InfoSpace contain street addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail handles for millions of people--much like the telephone white pages. Most online directories indeed get their information from phone book publishers or other data vendors, who in turn get their goods from mail-order houses, magazine publishers, and credit card companies. Trouble is, there are dozens of directories, and no two are exactly alike. And no single database contains everyone's contact information, so if you want to find someone, you'll have to try several. Even then, you may not find who you're looking for.

Your best bet: use a metasearch engine such as PeopleSearch.net, which lets you scan 18 phone and e-mail directories at once (though we recommend that you uncheck the ICQ search option--it crashed our PC five times). The downside: PeopleSearch opens up to 18 browser windows (but you have the option to nick it down to 10), which can be a nightmare to navigate.

And don't forget to try plain old Internet search engines. In our informal tests, Google turned up as many accurate addresses as AnyWho and Switchboard, the best of the people-finder directories.

Going to the source

To narrow your search, try combing specialised directories and public records databases. For example, Femina lets you search for sites created by, about, and for women; SeniorsSearch specialises in tracking down the over-50 set. Want to know if your subject is dead? Try the Social Security Death Index or, if he or she is famous, the Dead People Server.

The public record holds a wealth of information: births, deaths, property ownership, a variety of licenses, even criminal records. But only a fraction of this information is available online; how much varies hugely from state to state and county to county. Still, searching the few wired public records is worth a try; you'll find a listing of national and state records at Public Record Finder.com or Pacific Information Resources.

Money talks

If you want access to public records that aren't online, you usually have to pay. Information services such as US Search or KnowX.com will do your sleuthing for a small fee. For example, if you're looking for information about a business, KnowX.com charges from US$1.50 (to locate a business address) up to $360 (for a full Dun & Bradstreet report on an overseas firm.) These sites obtain information from government agencies as well as third-party data vendors such as LexisNexis and ChoicePoint.

Just don't expect too much, even if you choose to shell out the cash. We purchased a $60 "exhaustive super search" from US Search, which turned up a batch of our test subject's former addresses, including a private mailbox he hadn't used in 15 years. It also turned up the names of everyone else who's had that box in the interim--not the most useful information. Meanwhile, it missed such details as the fact that our subject is married, owns a house, and has two children.

Detect the detectives

Spam Spade

Take Marketing Resources, which sells the $25 Cyber Seeker ("the software they want banned in all 50 states!"). This anonymous outfit, which operates out of a private mailbox in Lynn Haven, Florida, also hawks human pheromones, work-at-home schemes, lists of government auctions, and (surprise!) e-mail marketing lists.

Give your credit card number to people like this, and the best thing that will happen is that you get some useless trinket in return, says Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters>, an antispam group in Green Brook, New Jersey. You'll probably end up on a lifetime sucker list for more spam, and you may see mysterious charges on future credit bills.

"Anyone who gives their credit card number to a spammer should expect to see a broad cross-section of white-collar crime appear on their next billing statement," Catlett adds. In other words, if you get an e-mail message from someone you don't know offering to find dirt on someone you do know, don't take them up on it.

Fictional flatfoot

Probably the most popular for-pay sleuthing software is the $29 Net Detective 2001, sold by Harris Digital Publishing. The company's Web site claims that you can use Net Detective to get a copy of your FBI file, check driving and criminal records, and "find out everything you ever wanted to know about your friends, family, neighbors, employees, and even your boss!" The site also features letters from CEO Jean Harris and a series of product endorsements, including one from the National Association of Independent Private Investigators (NAIPI).

In our research into the software's legitimacy, we could find no record of Jean Harris. The NAIPI is sponsored by Net Detective's parent company, and there are no other members. Private detectives we contacted were unfamiliar with the organisation.

"Never heard of 'em," says Lenny Accardo, executive secretary for the National Association of Licensed Investigators.

Doing the legwork

We obtained a copy of the $29 Net Detective and discovered that it's little more than a collection of text files and links to public Web sites, government agencies, and fee-based data services. For example, if you click the FBI Files button in the software's main window, Net Detective brings up a document telling you how to file a Freedom of Information request, along with addresses for regional FBI offices.

Basically, Net Detective won't dig up anything you can't find just as easily somewhere else. In fact, by comparison, a simple search of Florida's excellent public records database reveals that Harris Digital Publishing is a subsidiary of Cyberspace to Paradise (CTP), which is owned by John Stanley of Deland. It's one of several businesses operated by Stanley, including Cyber Detective, which sells a clone of Net Detective, and Customer Care Dot Com, which handles orders and customer service for CTP.

Trouble is their business

Meanwhile, the Better Business Bureau gives CTP an unsatisfactory rating due to complaints that its software "does not perform as represented." Bureau President Judy Peppers said that her office had received 35 complaints about the company.

Stanley stands by his product. "We sell hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide," he notes. "If the Better Business Bureau gets 20 or 30 complaints, they rate us as unsatisfactory. They evaluate us without considering the magnitude of our business."

Stanley admits that he made up the name Jean Harris to avoid crank e-mail and that his program is aimed squarely at Net neophytes. "We don't offer a lot to the sophisticated user," but, he adds, "We offer an unconditional guarantee and honor it without exception." (Note: Harris Digital removed the NAIPI endorsement from its site shortly after we contacted the company.)

Bottom line? If you want to find someone, you'll save more money doing it the old-fashioned way; use Web sites and search engines, pick up the phone, or call a private investigator.

Going private? Good luck

While you can reduce your Internet footprint, you can't entirely erase it, says Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Still, she says, "I advise people to take advantage of all the opt-outs they can."

Getting delisted

Before you can erase your online profile, you'll need to know what's out there. Start by doing a background search on yourself. Find out which directories list your name and address, then ask each one to remove this information from its databases. (You'll typically find instructions on how to do this in the site's privacy policy.)

Staying off junk e-mail lists is virtually impossible, but Junkbusters offers some tips on reducing your daily spam intake, and check out CNET's own spam self-defense course. To reduce your paper junk mail, visit the Direct Marketing Association's opt-out page. Here you can also opt out of telemarketing calls and legitimate e-mail marketing lists. (If you want to submit your request online, they'll ding you $5 per request, the creeps.) This will eliminate many, but not all, unsolicited marketing attempts.

Bank on it

Some of the biggest info merchants on the planet are the people who handle your money: banks, insurance companies, and credit-reporting agencies. As of last July, all US financial institutions must let you limit the sale of your personal information to third parties--but only if you specifically tell them to keep their greedy mitts off your data. Go to each institution's Web site and search its privacy statement for language with the words opt out or mailing list. You should find an address or a phone number where you can inform them of your privacy preferences.

Your own private Internet

How much privacy you get back depends on how far you're willing to go. Larry Sontag, author of It's None of Your Business, urges people to let their information go stale: don't update old addresses or phone numbers; use unlisted numbers and private mailboxes. That way, any personal information that does show up on the Web will be expired and mostly useless. He advises consumers to put the minimum amount of information on personal checks and to consider using an offshore bank for maximum privacy.

Even then, it's not just what you do on the Net; good privacy management is something to start early and practice often. You may be prudent online, but you could still be at the mercy of anyone who's sneaky enough to call friends, neighbors, or relatives and weasel information out of them, usually on some pretext.

Givens says that you should advise friends and relatives to not give out any information, and you should be wary of contests, discounts, and other offers that claim to give you something in exchange for your data. Ever fill out a warranty card? Or enter a drawing that required you to give your name and address? That information goes straight into the company's marketing database, which they may rent out to anyone with a bank account--including spammers.

Remember, the vast majority of your personal data comes from stuff you do offline, some of which is sold online. For example, if you hire a private investigator to dig up information, there's a good chance he or she is going to get at least some of that info by pretext calling--making up a reason to call someone and ask for personal information. If you answer such questions when someone calls you, the information you give is at risk. If you send $60 to US Search for a background check, the company is just buying the header information from your subject's credit report. If your grandmother has never been within 10 feet of a computer, odds are good that you can still get her information online.

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