A company called Lexis-Nexis has been collecting huge amounts of all kinds of data to submit it to businesses as an information resource. Many companies are eager to get the skinny on competitors, potential applicants, and current employees. Lexis Nexis has capitalized on this, becoming rich off of information from anyone willing to leak it. Their database for personal information is called P-Trax. It puts YOUR personal information in the path of anyone willing to pay for it. This information is often highly useful for falsifying identity in fraudulent financial transactions.

This problem is a logical extension of our society's need to know, to computerize, and to track our society through databases. Much like unsolicited mail, which is generated by companies exchanging previously private lists, marketers are determined to qualified generate sales leads by analyzing consumers based on any personal information that they can find.

Many users have experienced spam (unsolicited e-mail.) This is a scattershot practice: the sender rarely knows who or where their message goes. Most emails end with a call to action for users to "get of the mailing list." This is a natural response to the invasion of privacy, to want to put a stop to it. Unfortunately, responses to an company name or address of questionable origin often serve to confirm to the sender that the e-mail account being spammed exists, and this is really the only way they can tell. Many spams fail to reach their destination, so the ones that do are precious to the spammer.

Lexis-Nexis is a global institution, and therefore accountable to responsible business practices. Therefore they provide a legitimate method to remove your personal information from their files. This information has been found to include your name, social security number, current address, previous addresses, mother's maiden name, birth date and other personal information. You must be pro-active - they are counting on a lack of response, this is what keeps sensitive data in their database.

You can have your name and information removed from this list by making a telephone request. Call (800) 543-6862, select option 4 and then option 3 ("all other questions") and tell the representative answering that you wish to remove your name from the P-trax database. You can also have your name deleted by calling 1-888-965-3947. You may also send a fax to (513) 865-1930, or physical mail to LEXIS-NEXIS / P.O. Box 933 / Dayton, Ohio 45401-0933.

I called this morning and had my name removed. The representative will need your name and social security number to remove you from the list. I suggest that we inundate Lexis-Nexis with requests to remove our info from the list. Spread the word.

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