Going private? Good luck
What if you want to keep other folks from snooping on you? Privacy experts agree: once the data genie is out of the bottle, it's virtually impossible to stuff it back in.
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.
I wish there was a name on this article so I could send the author a great big WELL DONE! Harris is a rip-off, not because the software does little (I did not mind that) but because they simply stop supporting the Serial Number they sent making the disc I paid Harris $39 for totally useless after 18 months.
I did not buy a membership, I paid for software. I now have a $39 coaster next to my new computer. As the article implys, do not waste a dime on Net Detective or the scamer that sells it.