Kelly Hodgkins, a mobile technology blogger and Gizmodo editor, has created an invaluable guide to tips to removing your personal information from more than a dozen online background check websites.

Here, in her words is why you need to know about this:

“There are hundreds of online background check websites that gather information on people. In the US, these online databases are populated with information from public records like real estate transactions, arrest records, court cases, marriages, divorces, etc.,” she says.

“Before the Internet, investigators would have to go to the local town hall or the state records office and request this public information in person. Now with databases a dime a dozen, most of this information is readily accessible if you know where to look.

A background check website will both mine these public databases and obtain demographic information from marketing companies. If you’re young, you’re paper trail is likely small, but if you’re older, the amount of publicly available information can be staggering.”

Read her full — and generous — guidelines here. Print them out and share them widely.  You might also want to bookmark Gizmodo. It is a widely-read site noted for its clearly written, up-to-date coverage of the technology industry.