online privacy

I'm convinced there is none anymore. I remember growing my parents had to pay extra to keep keep our home phone number unpublished out of the phone book. Now with the internet how on earth do you keep your personal info off the internet WITHOUT having to individually contact the online information brokers and jump through their hoops in hopes (with no guarantee) of getting your personal info removed?

I just searched myself on zabasearch and my name, home address and home telephone popped up under a free search. I know several years ago I emailed them and my info was removed then without issue. Obviously now its back. And now in order to remove your info, they want you to fax a request to include a copy of your driver license or some "official" identification card to prove its you. Seriously? I don't get it, in todays age how can a company take my personal information, and that of my family members, and make it freely available to anyone who wants it? I don't do facebook or any type of social media, never have, never will.

Is there a single, or somewhat streamlined method to keeping these info brokers from posting my personal info? Thats free or low cost?

Online criminals, burglars, etc utilize the internet just as much as us non criminals but obviously their intent is unholy. Serving up an honest persons info online for them just isn't right imo. Can these information brokers be held liable in any way if something did happen such as if I became a victim of identity theft??

Just searched zaba for my name including middle initial, nothing came up. A few years ago there was a free site that I showed up on but I removed my info, maybe that's why no zaba info now. Sorry, don't remember the name of that site now.

I have used a paid site to reverse look up a name and address from a telephone number. Somebody was texting me all hours of the day and night and it got pretty crude. I told them they were mistaken w/ who I was warned them to leave me the berkeley alone. The only thing that stopped it was when I called them and said I know your name and where you live, if you persist w/ this harassment I will be on your berkeleying doorstep in 10 minutes.

IIRC, there are sites that will erase your online info for a price, haven't used that service but may look into it.

Yes, something needs to be done to limit online accessibility of personal info.

Spokeo may have your info

Between Google and advertisers capturing your every click and the government storing it (plus a lot more) for as long as they feel like, you have no privacy rights anymore.

Privacy is history.

Get over it.

It will be SIGNIFICANTLY worse for your kids.

The data collectors have already begun collecting data on your kids. They are patiently awaiting them to come of age before revealing the extent of how much data they have.

You entered the electronic world with a blank slate, and each piece of data was added, which gave you a limited ability to stop the items one at a time.

Your kids will enter the electronic world with their entire private profiles already compiled, just being made available as they become old enough.

They will never even wonder if they can have privacy. It will be assumed that they will have to pay for the privilege of having (a little) privacy.

Tim hit the nail on the head. You can have privacy still, but it's a lot of work and only doable if too many other people aren't leaking your info to Facebook etc. Not doable for kids who have been twittered & facebooked by their parents from birth.

SVreX wrote: Get over it.

wow,,,,,,sorry for even bringing it up

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-13/fake-skype-pr-account-created-aftermath-msft-nsa-disclosures-awkward-hilarity-ensues

I think only the homeless have privacy anymore. And the dead.

The law in our country is:

"Old dead white guys" said: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Like the rest of the laws, this one no longer applies. Thus, we live in a time of No Law, or Lawlessness. Only ruled by Men with Guns.

And Women with Guns.

Not too many, ECM. And Napolitano, after buying a couple BILLION rounds of ammo to shoot us with, just quit to be head of California universities or something. She just set it up. Time for the next one to step in and push the button.

There is NO privacy any more and honestly there never was. I came to grips with that a long time ago, as an individual there's not a helluva lot I can do about it. I do lessen my spam crap by refusing those discount cards at grocery stores. First, they don't pay back like you think they will and second you have basically given the store the right to sell your purchase history information. Same with giving out my phone number; AutoZone says it's necessary for warranty purposes. Bull E36 M3. All I need is the receipt for warranty purposes. The REAL reason is the same as the grocery chains, it's so they can sell the information. Then the schlub gets a crapload of spam text, sales calls etc along with his 'warranty'.

All that pales in comparison to a problem I have pretty constantly: incorrect information. My (laughably common) name and SSN were run through a background reporting agency as a condition of my last job, it came back with me being a SEX OFFENDER. Funny, you say? Not as the single father of a teenage girl that E36 M3 ain't no kind of funny. Yeah, it got yanked immediately but still it's spooky.

Experian has recently linked three of my deceased father's accounts to my name and SSN since I am an executor. These accounts were behind at the time of his death and have been settled as part of closing the estate, they are not mine. Yet Experian has linked them to me and here's the FUN part: I have to fix THEIR mistake. Dumbasses. FWIW, the other two credit agencies don't show those accounts.

I have given up on a reasonable expectation of privacy but I do expect a reasonable level of accuracy in what's stored/disseminated. Can't even get that nowadays.