We scour the web so you don’t have to (but for the record, you should be).

Sites like intelius.com, peoplesearch, zabasearch, and other very intrusive and annoying sites store your data.  For a fairly small fee, they will give me your name, addresses for as far back as I want, age, date of birth, SSN, phone number, email, family members, friends, employment records, arrests, credit report, and anything else I want.  Armed with this data, I can concoct a plausible story and literally become you.  All it takes is memorizing your data, going to the library for instance, and getting a card.  With that (especially if you go to a library that does photos on their IDs), I can keep whittling away at building my new life at your expense—and that’s not even counting what the NSA might be doing with your info.  I can, with enough time, patience, and persistence, eventually get credit, take over your accounts, and do all manner of awful things, because I’m you now.  Mother’s maiden name?  I have that too.  You want these websites to remove you, trust me.

This guide from reddit technology lists all the big players in the data site field, along with the process you need to remove yourself from each of them.  I’ll warn you up front—it’s a bit tedious.  It’s annoying.  You’re going to have to scan your driver’s license (with picture and license number covered) to prove that you’re you.  And you need to do each site separately.  That being said, you want to do this.  In fact, if you’re serious about privacy, expect to put some work into learning a whole new world.  Don’t believe me, however…check for yourself.  Go to Zabasearch or Intelius and do a search for yourself.  Then go to reddit and get yourself out of the data target business.

While you’re at it:

Check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Surveillance Self-Defense Project.

Last but VERY MUCH not least, go to PRISM-Break.org, and look at alternative programs you can use that will not hand you over to the NSA on a silver platter.