Did you know that for a nominal fee, anyone can buy personal info about you going back 20 years? This info includes your age, your current address, your previous address(es), telephone numbers (both listed and unlisted), the name of your spouse, the date of your marriage, the age when you got married, the name of your ex-spouse, the date of your divorce, the names of your possible roommates/relatives/associates and neighbors all with full addresses and an aerial view of your current house, and other info too? I happened to hit on one of these people-searching websites by accident a few weeks ago and was absolutely flabbergasted by what info people can find out about another person living in the U.S. simply with a credit card. The initial search is free and it'll give you the age and the city of the person you are searching. Is this legal? Sadly the answer is Yes. All the websites obtain their info from public and commercial sources. Can you sue these companies? Sadly the answer is No. Recently there was a case, City of Kirkland v. Sheehan, where a Washington State citizen, Bill Sheesan, listed all the names, phone numbers, Social Security Numbers, spouses‚ namesnnd other personal info of the local police officers on his website. As you can imagine, this caused a great deal of stress to the officers' families. The city sued and lost. This website was protected by the First Amendment. (To read more about this case and the privacy invasion article by Prof. Anita Ramasastry, log on to http://writ.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20050512.html.)

What can you do? You can '"opt out" from being listed on these websites.

There are too many websites for me to list here. You can google and type 'people search' or 'public records' and you'll get a listing. You'll need to contact each company. Some companies share the same customer service (i.e. www.peoplefinders.com and www.usa-people-search.com share the same customer service). If you contact one to have your data removed, it will be removed from both websites. (You do not need to give out your Social Security number to have your data removed!) To protect yourself, you need to review all the Privacy Notices you receive from the companies who have your record. Skip the part that starts with "We value your privacy" and go to the paragraph that gives you the instruction on how to opt out. If you don't let them know, your data will be made available on the Internet.

Unfortunately, we currently do not have any laws protecting our privacy on the Internet. You have more cause for worry now when you lose your ATM card. Criminals can find out about your DOB and your wedding date and try to access your account. A recent article on MSNBC suggested that we should follow the European standard. People over there need your permission to be "opt in" rather than the other way around. I can't agree more.

Linda Liu