How do they know that?

I consider myself to be a somewhat private netizen. I do not make my e-mail address or AIM/MSN handles available on the public Internet. I don't link my real name or phone number to my blog. I don't use a photoblog or online photo-storage service. Honestly, it probably wouldnt bother me to have this information made publicly available, but I want to decide what is made public and what is kept private. Sadly, that choice was already made for me by "People Search" companies.

There is a relatively small amount of legislation governing what kind of information can be collected, who is allowed to collect it, and what they are subsequently allowed to do with the information (resell it, mine it, etc.). Without some sort of specified limits, there is nothing stopping companies from compiling the same types of data repositories that were proposed under the (now defunct) Total Information Awareness Project, which had it been allowed to continue would have become the most expanisive and agressive invasion of personal privacy that the US has ever seen. Worse still, these info-warehouses would operate with virtually no oversight from the government.

Sometimes, sites pop up that really bring the reality of net privacy into focus. Zaba Search, a people-search engine I stumbled across while perusing some random weblogs, truly shows how effortless it is for someone to find large amounts of personal information on just about anyone. This one searches as fast as Google, and while it only provides birth-years, addresses, and phone numbers, there is an option to purchase additional information if you so choose.

Yes, I know. Linking to the website is only an encouragement for people to use it. But in this case, I think it's important that you check out the site and run some searches. Once you see how easily it finds matches, you might begin to think twice before the next time you give out some of your "personal" information.