Like for instance today I got a business cred card from Visa for my site. I started freaking out because I have no idea how they got my info, is hosting companies selling your info illegal?
They can get it when you file your ficticious business name... or I've even gotten some recently when I bought domains from godaddy.com. Unless you make your information private, people can find it. And people who sell credit cards want to find new business' because they're more likely to bite then sending credit card invites to random people.
If you look up the whois info for your domain name, then I'll bet you address and contact info is on there. I get the stuff all the time, but i have several hundred domains registered. http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jhtml type in your domain name and see what you get.
I have to admit, if I have a domain registered with GoDaddy, I get credit card offers from vendors using their whois info. tom
They have an option to keep your information private. Spammers are tricky and evil, though. I just use a variety of different email addresses. I'm very careful with the ones I actually use for business. Then, for the ones that will be exposed to spammers, I use disposable addresses that I can just throw away when they get too well-known.
Yes as jimrthy points out, spammers are tricky and they will search the whois for mail addresses to send out there stinking spam. Never use your main business e-mail address in your whois records or you will be flooded with spam. Using a disposable e-mail address is very good so if you start getting spam just delete the email address and change the whois info to reflect the new change. If you have several domains use the same disposable e-mail address on all of them so it is easy to change in the future.
Maybe the same idea still applies. Use a PO Box for that sort of thing? Or maybe an ex-girlfriend's address
you never know what they are selling your info for and to whom. Do you remember the case of Chinese sale of Email information of a Jounalist to chinese authority. That Guys is in Jail for 10 years Now.....Who has done That.....Your and Ours ...... Yahoo....... Can you believe it. Yahoo says he will never give your personal info to anyone. But Yahoo and MSN have given all their Database to US Government. Only Google Hold the ground for you. How safe are you if Big Three want to put you in exile. You see I have heard that one guy was arrest and put in jail just because he has done some Keywrods search in google which was related with Murder. Now tell me who on earth know what are you doing in your PC. But forget it, you are not alone anywhere on Net. Watch out Guys. Your wife can Divorce you with Legal witness and proof taken from Google, Yahoo, MSN Database for your computer. And According to a Big News site, It has happened atleast once. Arvind Kumar