We recently had a concerned police officer share a story with us from PoliceOne.com, a resource that provides officers with the news and tools necessary to protect their communities and protect themselves on the streets.

“One Deputy’s Nightmare: Dealing with Violent Stalkers” recalls Deputy Karen Moss’ chilling report of being being stalked online after apprehending a suspect in a gunfight.  The incarcerated suspect offered a bounty on Moss’ head, apparently providing prospective murderers-for-hire with her name, description, and a suggestion to use Zabasearch to locate her home:

At the jail, [an] informer floated the name of the driver Moss had shot and asked if she knew him. She said yeah, and he said, “Well, he tried to hire me to kill you.” [...]  “I was skeptical, initially,” Moss recalls. But then the snitch produced an incriminating scrap of paper the suspect had given him. Handwritten, it included her name, her physical description, and the name of a website, Zabasearch.com.

[...]

In street searches, she had pulled Zabasearch printouts or notations from the pockets of several suspects. “Zaba is very well known by criminals,” she says, “and they use it.” She had also learned that the home addresses of two officers who’d recently been in shootings, including one living on her block, were accessible there without the officers being aware of it. She figured it was only a matter of time until some angered arrestee or vengeful relative was able to successfully track a cop to his home and wreak violent retribution on him or his family.

Here at Reputation.com, we hear on a daily basis from individuals who are concerned about the safety of their families and the security of their home as a result of the spread of people-data on the Web.  Hundreds of websites like Zabasearch.com give out (free of charge) personally identifiable data like your name, current and former addresses, phone numbers, date of birth, and corresponding information for your relatives and children.  Often times, the only way to remove your information from these sites is to call, email, or send snail-mail to each one — and rarely does the opt-out policy of one “people-data” site match another.

PoliceOne.com notes that Zabasearch agreed to prioritize the removal of Moss’ information, and the addresses of other officers, over standard opt-out submissions.  That helps.  But where does this leave you?  With more than 200 additional people-data sites and information aggregators on the Internet, the average individual faces a daunting task when attempting to wipe their information off of the web. That’s why we created MyPrivacy. With MyPrivacy, Reputation.com has partnered with leading online data providers in order to provide one resource where you can quickly and easily remove your personal data from the Internet.

So, what else can you do?  We recommend being proactive about keeping your data off the web.  People databases typically acquire your information from “public records” (court records, building permits, phone listings, etc.) and marketing lists.  It’ll be tough to get yourself out of public records, but you can stem the flow by thinking twice the next time to register for a discount card (ever wonder why Safeway gives you those great discounts just for registering?), contest, or even a new credit card.