Regaining Privacy in a Digital World
by 6-Pack
You would probably be surprised at how much information about you is available to anyone with an Internet connection.
I'm not speaking about the data you advertise publicly on sites such as Facebook or MySpace. Though I do not condone using such sites, you at least have some degree of control in terms of who has access to what information. With only a name, or address, or phone number I can use the Internet to find your legal name, full birth date, history of all prior residences, family members in the same household, etc...
The problem with many other privacy articles is that they do not see the forest for the trees. They advise you on how to make it difficult for the government and private detectives to track you down, but do not tell you how to make it difficult for "Joe Six-pack." While your circumstances may require that you wish to remain undetectable to government entities and private detectives, most of us do not require this level of privacy. This article will not only help you cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive, but it will also make it harder for the average person to track you down. After all, aren't the majority of stalkers just your average Joe?
For starters, get an unlisted phone number! The additional $2 a month is not a large sum of money considering the additional privacy benefits of having an "unpublished" number. Remember, however, that an unpublished number will only stay private if you keep it private!
I will only say this once: do not lie to the government. Lying, misleading, or defrauding the government is illegal. No passing Go, you will land directly in jail. Please do not misconstrue anything in this article to promote such a callous disregard for the government or the courts. When giving your name and address to the government, give the correct one. It will save you a lot of trouble.
What is in a name anyway? Webster's dictionary defines "name" as "a word or symbol used in logic to designate an entity."1 You may have a birth name, a nickname, or a completely false name. Internet forms and databases do not care which of these "names" you provide them, as long as you provide them something. Why not start using a nickname or false name when filling out online forms? After all, even five-year-olds know not to talk to strangers and yet we, as grown and educated adults, talk to strangers all the time by filling out online forms. Now, with only a little bit of work, you can regain some tranquility in your life.
The Do Not Call Registry
The national Do Not Call Registry was established by the federal government to allow consumers to "opt out"2 of marketing telephone calls. There are a few exemptions from this registry: surveys, businesses you have an established relationship with, and charities/political organizations. Even with these exceptions, however, you will still be able to stop many annoying and untimely telemarketing calls.
To add your phone number to this registry, go to www.donotcall.gov. It should be noted that telemarketers are not allowed to call cellular phones. It is an added layer of protection, however, if you choose to register your cellular phone. You will need a valid e-mail address to complete the registration process and may enter up to three phone numbers per registration.
The Do Not Call Registry does not apply to businesses. Businesses are not "consumers."3 From my understanding, however, although the enforcement only applies to consumers, businesses may still register their phone numbers. Therefore, you can register your business phone numbers to eliminate unwanted and unproductive telemarketing calls, but will have no redress against telemarketers if they do call you.
Opt-Out Prescreen
Are you tired of all those "pre-approved" credit card offers in the mail? The three credit reporting bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, are kind enough to allow you to "opt-out" of the sale and sharing of your private information.
To stop receiving these "pre-approved" credit card offers, go to www.optoutprescreen.com and follow the instructions to "opt-out." I recommend using the electronic opt-out that is good for five years, because this option does not require your Social Security number. Remember to check back and renew your "opt-out" every few years.
Many people do not realize the security implications of these credit card offers. An identity thief can easily open your mailbox and snatch these offers while you are not home. Why take the risk? Besides, I end up shredding all of these offers to make sure no one can misappropriate them for their own illicit use. You should definitely "opt-out" from this service!
Marketing and Junk Mail
This section focuses on regular, run-of-the-mill junk mail.
I'm sure that you, like myself, are tired of receiving advertisements for products that are uninteresting and leave you wondering how you were lucky enough to be selected for such a fine excrement of mailings in the first place. Three companies alone have the ability to stop the majority of junk mail you receive! To thwart would-be junk mail, simply remove yourself from their databases:
Axicom
Much like the "pre-approved" credit card offers mentioned above, Axicom sells your information to marketers, who then send you junk mail.
To "opt-out," go to www.acxiom.com/opt-out-request-form and fill out the form listed on that page. Axicom will send you a package in the mail (mine arrived within a week) that contains the actual "opt-out" form. Fill out the form and mail it back to them. They claim that it takes two weeks to process your request.
The Direct Marketing Association
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is reason number two your mailbox gets cluttered with junk mail.
They sell your address and provide your likes and dislikes to advertisers. How do they gather this information? You know those barcodes you carry on your keychain (grocery store clubs and the like)? These stores keep tabs on what you buy, how often you purchase it, and when you typically make those purchases. Now you know why grocery stores are insistent that you use the free club card to receive 15 cents off your box of cereal. Go to www.dmachoice.org to find out how to remove your name and address from DMA-approved marketers' databases.
Choicepoint
Choicepoint sells your address information much like Axicom.
To "opt-out" from Choicepoint's services, go to www.privacyatchoicepoint.com/optout_ext.html and fill out their form.
How to (Not) Find a Person on the Internet
I previously discussed how easy it is for Joe Six-pack to locate you and your loved ones.
Now you will learn how to fight back and regain your independence from the commercial sale of your private4 information. I will not describe each site in detail but will just give a quick description and explanation of how to remove your information. I recommend using a disposable e-mail address (such as from Yahoo! or Hotmail) so that you won't get bogged down with spam to your main e-mail address. I also recommend against filling a form with more information than is available on the website in the first place. For example, do not give a laundry list of previous addresses if a site's database contains only few of your old addresses.
411.com, whitepages.aol.com, phonenumber.com, and whitepages.com
Search for your name and click on it in the results. About halfway down the page you will see a small link that says, "Is this you? Remove your listing." Click that button, enter the reason for removal (it doesn't really matter what reason you choose), enter the security code, and your listing will be removed.
anywho.com
Find your listing. Then go to www.anywho.com/help/privacy_list.html and enter the phone number that was contained in the listing. The system will then generate a number, most likely 1-732-978-5000. Call that number from the phone number in the listing and you will be removed.
people.yahoo.com
Find your listing. Then go to yahoo.intelius.com/optout.php, fill the form out with the information contained in the listing, and click "Remove Me".
find.person.superpages.com
The Superpages are no longer limited to businesses. They expanded to cover individuals as well. Once you find your listing, click on "Update Listing" under the address shown. Do not delete this information! Scroll down to the bottom of the page and follow the link to the "Online Removal Form". Enter the code word and click "Remove Me".
switchboard.intelius.com
Find your listing. Then go to switchboard.intelius.com/optout.php, fill the form out with the information contained in the listing, and click "Remove Me".
zabasearch.com
This website is not as easy as the others. Once you find your listing, open a new window and go to www.zabasearch.com/block_records/block_by_mail.php (I have excluded the option of paying ZabaSearch $20 to block your record instantly because you can do it for free through the mail). Follow the instructions to remove your information to the tee, or they will reject it.
reversephonedetective.com
Enter your phone number and see what information comes up. Open a new window, go to www.reversephonedetective.com/optout/optout.php, and fill out the form. Read all of the checkboxes carefully because one of them is an opt-in for e-mail advertisements.
daplus.us
Search for your name and look through the second box to find your listing. Open a new window and go to www.daplus.us/remove.aspx and fill out the form with your information. I noticed they had variations of my name at the same address, so fill out the form multiple times to include all variations. It takes them a while to remove your information, so don't expect results for at least a week.
peoplefinders.com
The removal process is much like for ZabaSearch. Go to www.peoplefinders.com/privacy.aspx for details. They ask you to include address information going back 20 years but, if it doesn't show up in one of their listings, I'll bet that they don't have it. Therefore, I only included the address information that they had available on their website.
intelius.com
Here is the tricky part with Intelius: you must subscribe to their service to print the listing to remove yourself. Before undertaking this, I went to the local drugstore and purchased a $50 "gift" Visa card. I used this for the sites I had to subscribe to because I do not want them having my real credit card information. I subscribed to the 24-hour unlimited pass for $19.95. This way, I could search for all of my family, friends, and relatives with the single $19.95. All they require is that you print off the listing and send it to them. Interestingly, they only accept your opt-out via fax. Their fax number is: (425) 974-6194. They will remove your listings within a few days.
ussearch.com
As with Intelius, you must subscribe to their service to print the listing to remove yourself. Using the same $50 disposable Visa as described above, I subscribed for their 24-hour unlimited pass for $19.95. Using the same procedure, I searched for everyone I knew to get the most out of my hard-earned money. Open a second window and go to www.ussearch.com/consumer/optout/submitOptout.do. Now, you have two choices for removing your information:
- Mail the forms to:
Attn: Opt-Out Department Service Center 600 Corporate Pointe, Suite 220 Culver City, CA 90230Fax the forms to: (310) 822-7898 It takes U.S. Search a while to remove your listing, so don't expect overnight results.
classmates.com
If you were like me, you were most likely talked into joining Classmates.com so that you could keep up to date with class reunions and such. Aside from the daily junk e-mails, this service has done nothing else for me other than share my name with others (I never filled in the address part). This service may not apply to you, but, if it does, go to www.classmates.com/cmo/user/remove to remove your account.
Regain a Private Lifestyle
O.K., so now you have hopefully removed your private information from the Internet.
I would recommend bookmarking all of the sites mentioned above and checking back on them every so often to delete any data they may have put back on because you failed to "opt-out" from other services along the way. While we did not remove all of your information from the Internet, which is impossible, we did remove the information from the hands of the majority of the non-paying public. From now on, most sites that have your information are pay sites and only the most persistent of people will want to pay for your information. But then again, if you are living a low-key lifestyle, people shouldn't be attracted to you in the first place.
PO Boxes
I recommend getting a PO box for magazine subscriptions, utility bills, the grocery store coupons mentioned above, and anything else that will likely be sold. The post office is not supposed to divulge who the renter of a PO box is unless there is a court-issued subpoena or search warrant. However, when I was removing myself from the databases mentioned above, I did find my brand new post office box attached to my name. This is the importance of having mostly everything sent to your box: Anytime someone does sell your information, it doesn't lead to where you live, it leads to the post office.
Go to poboxes.usps.com/poboxonline/search/landingPage.do and search for available PO boxes in your area. Any available boxes will include the various sizes and prices. Currently, PO boxes range from $20 a year (ZIP Code 48820) for the smallest box to $667 a year (ZIP Code 90210) for the largest box. I rented the cheapest box available and it was only $58.00 a year.
When you go to the post office to get your new "box o' privacy," you will need to present two forms of identification. You need a driver's license (or other photo-ID) and another form of ID such as a utility bill. After that, you pay for the box, a $2 security deposit on the keys, and you are all set.
Now, you must remember to use your PO box! Absolutely do not use your home address unless the government or a bank is requesting it. If your name pops back up on the websites we worked so hard to take your name off of, which address do you think will be listed? You guessed it, your PO box.
Banks and PO Boxes
The IRS requires banks, brokerage firms, and other financial institutions to have a physical street address for you. While I did find a trick around this, explained in a minute, you should provide your actual street address. Call your banks and other financial institutions and inquire about their privacy policies and how to limit the sharing of your information. It usually involves calling a phone number, entering some identifying information, and pressing a couple of buttons. Your banks have to tell you how to do this.
Now for my trick around street addresses. When you searched for an available PO box, what information was presented? The post office name, street address, and box availability information. You can use that street address along with your box number. For example:
Not all post offices will be keen on your use of their address in this way, so be nice to your postal employees, even if they act like they should work at the DMV! To test this out, go on the Internet and order a free catalog (it can be from anywhere, like Sears or Macy's). When filling out the form, use the addressing scheme mentioned above and see if you receive your complementary catalog. If you receive it fine, just order a few more that way to make sure the post office doesn't complain after the first few. If you receive the catalog with a note from the postal employees that you cannot use the address in this manner, simply apologize and say that the catalog "required a street address, for some reason." (For this excuse to work, it's best to order an obscure catalog that they have not likely heard of, such as some mom-and-pop CB radio outfit.)
Conclusion
Now that you have put a lot of sweat into hiding your private information from the public, you realize the importance of not giving up your real address anymore. Use your PO box!
It is sad that society is forcing us to spend our hard-earned money to "opt-out" from services we never elected to enroll in. Companies only know what you tell them (or what they have purchased from others whom you have told). Tell them you are tired of their invasive, deceitful, and unscrupulous tactics that make a them a quick dollar by: removing your listings from online databases, using fictitious names when subscribing to magazines and receiving packages, and never giving up your real address and phone number to "strangers."
Even five-year-olds know the importance of not talking to strangers. Yet grown, educated adults voluntarily provide whatever information a form asks of them (it's scary these people actually have the ability to chose our country's leaders). Just because a form asks for something does not mean that it is required.
Remember, if we don't tell companies that we feel this is wrong, they will go even further. Who knows what the future holds, but I do know that we can all do something about it now!
Footnotes
- www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/name
- Throughout this article, I will reference "opt-out" with quotations. I do this because it is not really an "opt-out." I feel that if you wish to opt-out of a service, you must have previously registered for a service. Since I never registered my phone number with telemarketers, I do not feel as if I should have to opt-out for something I never wanted in the first place. You may feel differently, but I'll still use the quotations.
- The generally accepted Black's Legal Dictionary defines "consumer" as "a person who buys goods or services for personal, family, or household use, with no intention of resale." (Black's Law Dictionary, 3rd Pocket Edition, Thompson West, 2006). This is the same definition that is used in federal consumer laws.
- Technically, there is nothing private about your name, address, phone number, or full birth date. These are all matters of public record and may be viewed by anyone. I feel, though, there is a vast difference between going to the vital statistics office at a local courthouse to pull up a birth record and typing in a name to retrieve the same information. The reason I feel there is a difference is because the average person is not going to want to go through all of that trouble to find the information. Let's face it, we have all gotten lazier and we want our information quick, fast, and easy. If you take away the quick, fast, and easy (isn't that the Internet?), we are left with the public information where it should be; in the public courthouse.