Anonymity and Confidentiality
How to keep your identity to yourself

The internet with all its marvels can also put your anonymity at risk. There are several free websites that allow you to reverse lookup a phone number to get a mailing address, along with a handy map and even driving directions! While having an unlisted number will help, many services attempt to compile your "public" personal data into databases and sometimes an unlisted number makes it to those lists. While you can have it removed you first would need to know it is there and those things come and go daily. I have even seen my age on such lookups and have no clue where they got it!

For a small fee one can obtain anything from places of former residence to arrest records. Such is the price of freedom.

For these reasons one must be very careful what personal information one chooses to share with people on-line.

Here are a few things to consider to better secure your identity.

• Never share your last name, place of employment or street address with people you meet on-line until you are formally dating.

• Before making a phone call think about caller ID . There are several ways to block your number from caller ID.

• If using email look at your email address. Does it have your last name or say where you work? Best to use one of the zillion free email systems out their such as yahoo.com or hotmail.com and use them just for dealing with new people you have met on the internet. You can always give them your personal email address once you feel you can trust them.

• If you meet in person and pay by credit card remember your full name is on it. Make sure not to leave it laying around.

• Be wary of anyone asking for too many personal details.