If, like me, you didn't actually make a resolution Dec. 31, catch up by taking some of the suggestions from Chris Hoofnagle's (EPIC West) Consumer Privacy Top 10 11. The government's warrantless wiretaps may be the scariest of privacy invaders right now, but government can also collect a lot of information from private parties. What you give to marketers may indeed end up in your permanent record.

1. OPT OUT OF PRESCREENED OFFERS OF CREDIT. By calling 1-888-567-8688 or by visiting https://www.optoutprescreen.com/, you can stop receiving those annoying credit and insurance offers.

2. STOP YOUR PHONE RECORDS FROM BEING SOLD. Call your landline and wireless phone companies and request to opt-out of "CPNI" sharing. CPNI is your call records information; most telephone companies sell this data.

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GET FREE CREDIT REPORTS. All Americans are now entitled to a free credit report from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies. You can perform a free form of credit monitoring by requesting one of your three credit reports every four months. Visit https://www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.

Note that the free credit reports are mandated by law, but advertisers will try to hoodwink you into paying for extra "monitoring" services if you sign up through other, often deceptively-labeled websites.