The Internet can be a very useful place, where comes down to tracking down old friends, relatives, classmates, and Associates.  But, what if you're the person on the other side of the fence to doesn't really want to be tracked down.  Just by virtue of having an e-mail account such as Hotmail, and Google Mail, Yahoo Mail or Gmail to make it easier for people to find you and information about you on the Internet.  Just do a couple of searches, for phrases such as "Hotmail member search", and "Hotmail e-mail search".  You'll be surprised to discover how many results you find for services to help you find out information about others that you may have thought with private.

Not all the e-mail search services work that well, but there are some that do and those who wonder need to be on the lookout for.  I may go without saying, but and repeated once again anyway.  If there's anything about yourself that you want to remain private, then don't put it on the Internet.  While most websites including Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail make every effort to protect the security and privacy of their members, it's virtually impossible to prevent 100% of anything.  Meaning, pretty much any website out there has the potential to be hacked and have information leak out.

So, what are the privacy paranoia among us to do?  We all need to have e-mail in this day and age, and make use of other essential Web services to stay connected socially, and for business purposes.  The key obviously is not to give out anymore true information about yourself than absolutely necessary.  We need to have is an alias you can use.  Meaning, a made-up persona complete with address, birth date, phone number and any other information you may require for signing up to different websites.

It may seem like you're being a little sneaky or dishonest by giving away fake information, but it's really an your best privacy protection interests.  Since when does an e-mail service provider need to know your age rank and serial number?  They don't, they just like to have an because it gives them a better idea of their customer base.  But what else it does, is put you at risk for identity theft, privacy invasion, and possibly even credit abuse.

Of course, if you don't mind having old friends and strangers finding you online using your Hotmail member information, or Gmail member information or Yahoo Mail member information or Facebook information, or my space information then don't worry about it.  I'm not too paranoid about most of the stuff, especially the things that I know are already public record.  My phone number for instance, as well as my street address can be found by anyone looking through a phonebook.  But when it comes to other information about myself such as birthday, credit information, financial stuff, and I'm extremely paranoid.

While I think it's fun, to search for old classmates and friends, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to be frivolous with my own information.