People with unlisted phone numbers can create an electronic listing for themselves on different people finders that simply lists their E-mail addresses or business affiliations. But people who want to protect their privacy must still search out all the people-finder databases they are listed in and ask to be removed, said Susan Scott of Truste.org, a group that promotes privacy rights on line and offers a seal of approval for Web sites that protect users' privacy. Mr. Dillingham said people concerned with privacy should use alternate addresses, like post office boxes, when filling out any document that is a public record, like a driver's license application. They should also tell businesses that they do not want their personal information distributed or sold, he said. Someone who really does not want to be found can get a phone number under another name, he said.
Safeguards are in place to help keep pranksters from changing other people's listings.
At Switchboard and Lycos, you can change your listing via E-mail once you have a password. Anywho, which powers people finders at the Excite, Webcrawler and Infoseek portals, requires you to place a call from the number in question to change your directory listing. Who's There, which allows searchers to send queries to people who do not list their E-mail publicly. The site acts as the intermediary, relaying a message to the person found, who can either refuse the query or respond to it. The people finder would route your E-mail for you.