Did you know that your entire life if being captured online? Your home address, phone number, marital status and even your hobbies are being collected and now AGRAGATED! STOP- don’t panic! Your personal information has always been out there for people to find – even before the days of the Internet… anyone remember the white pages? But is there something you can do about HOW MUCH information is being collected and distributed?

Spokeo.com is a website that allows you to enter in a person’s name and find information such as full name, address, phone number, marital status, names of children and even hobbies. Recently, I was asked “how do I remove myself from Spokeo’s database?” Well you can, but the bigger question is, does it matter?

Where did all this information come from? Lots of sources, is the answer. Spokeo is just an aggregator, a collector of publically viewable material online. So just because you may remove yourself from Spokeo doesn’t mean other websites are attempting to protect your privacy.

The project started back in 2006 in the dorm room of (now) 27-year-old Stanford student Harrison Tang. Tang claims to get the data from “public” sources, such as LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter and Yelp. He site also pulls from public records such as real-estate databases and marriage licenses. Thus creating an environment where details of your life may be found.

While you may be feeling a little creeped-out by this over-exposure I want us to be reasonable here. Yes, it’s odd to have all of this information listed in one place, but the truth is, we over-share on social networking sites, post adorable pictures and videos of our children, and enjoy the convenience of shopping online. As we do those things we give up a little more privacy each day. We need to understand how this “Internet thing” works and make the best decisions for ourselves.

For those of you worried about Internet Safety and what this type of aggregator will do to the safety of our children, let’s get down to basics…

We know the information is out there, so rather than trying to put the toothpaste back in the bottle, let’s focus on what’s really going to keep our kids safe online.

• Do not draw too much attention to yourself online (to give someone a reason to go looking for you).
• Do not cultivate relationships with people online you do not know in person!

These two simple rules will help keep us all safe, even in an era of over-exposure and reduced privacy!

Oh- and just in case your were wondering…
How to remove yourself from Spokeo.com
Go to spokeo.com
Search for yourself
Highlight and copy the URL (at the top of the screen)
At the bottom of the screen… look for and click the link that says PRIVACY
Paste the URL into the appropriate box
Type in your email address (you will have to check your email and CONFIRM for this to work)
Type in the requested code
After confirming the email they send you, your name and private info will be removed immediately.