Easier said than done. Observe the comments from this frustrated Missourian:

We were recently victims of I.D. theft. One of the ways they were able to use our credit card data on line was by obtaining our home mailing address. It is readily available from those "people search" data bases. Now, I know what you are going to say. I've removed our information from the data bases, only to have them show up again at a later date.

I must admit, I have never seen my credit card information online in a people search site. If someone has, let me know. Otherwise, this is a familiar story. You never know where your personal information is going to show up, and most of these outfits will tell you they're not violating any laws - because they simply post info that's already available to the public.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer resource, has a good primer on how to opt out of these various lists.

The privacy battle is never ending: Attorney General Nixon last year shut down four operations that were selling customer cell phone calling records without permission.