I have No Script running in Firefox. I have always wondered why it asks me if I want to enable facebook on websites that have no obvious connection. Now I know that I was protecting my honor by saying no.

The internet never forgets. The offending material will always be there. The best thing to do is to bury it. Become an active participant on multiple forums, everything from albacore tuna fishing to zoology (avoid politics and religion). Use your real, full name. Post as much as you can type. In about a year, a search for you will turn up 20 pages of friendly links, most people will stop after page 3. The offending articles will be stale dated and buried at the bottom of the pile. Post to professional forums the most but also non-professional forums so they see that you have a real life as well. You could also try to publish some articles in professional journals (online and dead tree), they should score higher than forum posts. Good Luck.

Privacy loss exists on several levels. I know that when I applied to re-finance my mortgage, the bank was going to look up my credit history. What I didn't know was that the credit agency was going to sell my info to other (multiple) lending agencies, who sent me offers. Most states allow the Motor Vehicle agencies to sell the data on licensed drivers, including traffic violations. The deed on your house, car loans, etc. are all publicly available. That's what has to be stopped! I should be able to control who sees my financial and other private information. We don't need another federal agency to do this, just some simple comprehensive laws. The Do Not Call List worked. Maybe a Do Not Give Information list is in order.