"Average Joe" from cs.com asks:

"I have heard you are able to find lots of personal info on most anyone? If this is true, how is the Average Joe protected?"

Ah, privacy and personal security. Important not just to Hollywood "celebs" with beefy security guards, but also to us normal types. More so, because we don't even have a beefy security guard to stare menacingly at potential evildoers.

The question touches closely on identity theft. Identity problems have been around for a long time, and the Internet adds new tangles. However, there are many ways of protecting yourself, Internet or no. (For instructions on what to do if your identity is actually stolen, see the attached links.)

Identity theft is nasty. The results can be anything from losing a couple dollars to waking up in the morning and seeing your credit rating has been trashed, accompanied by men in dark suits knocking on your door with "just a few questions". With that said, I don't mean to be too alarmist. In 2002, there were 4,640 reported cases of identity theft in Michigan. With our state population of just over 10 million, that's less than a 1 percent chance of anything happening to you. The situation above is rare, but it does happen. For this article, I'll skip the mind-bending tips like "don't give your card numbers to anyone you don't trust". Apart from the more obvious, note the following:

- Use credit cards instead of debit cards and checks. Depending on when you report your loss and how much was stolen, a debit card can cost you up to $500. A credit card will cost you no more than $50.

- Keep a separate list (not in your purse or wallet!) of all your credit and debit card contact phone numbers, so you'll still have someone to call immediately if you lose your cards. Include your account numbers on this list only if you're confident the list is safe.

- Buy a shredder. You can get a cheap one for $20. You can spend a little more and get a shredder that eats through old credit cards and stapled papers. Next, have fun shredding! A favored technique of ID thieves is "dumpster diving". That's a nice way of saying "rooting through your trash". For the credit card offers we get in the mail - shred them. Any credit card or bank statements you might throw away - shred them. Anything saying "return this now and receive..." or anything referencing account numbers and personal information - use the shredder and let it grind your worries away.

- To paraphrase from the immortal TV show Perfect Strangers, "You're not safe at home till you get a safe at home." You don't need an indestructible radiation-proof bank vault, but $50 at your favorite office supply store will get you a small fireproof safe perfect for your valuable personal papers.

- Don't carry anything you don't need. You may need a credit card with you, but do you need both credit cards and a debit card? Leave these and your social security card at home. Also look at your medical insurance cards - many of these also contain your social security number.

One last thing to keep in mind: Certain types of identity theft steal publicly-available records. There's not much we can do about that. However, credit card, bank and utilities fraud make up about 90 percent of identity theft complaints. The above tips are a great defense against these.

This type of crime can be intimidating and frustrating, but until all the Average Joes and Joans get their own beefy security guards, we're just going to have to be a little more careful.

Read the following links for more information about how to protect yourself, and what actions to take if you have problems:

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/banking/credit/1342.asp

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/atmcard.htm