Why are my posts and other items on the internet showing up as a hit on the internet searches published?

[SB]

Basically, I am not a "computer savvy" type of user. My generation did not have the internet "70's/80's" so I was shocked to find my personal opinions and "Posts" show up as published information on the internet! Why? So, I signed up to a "Brand-New" page "Grind TV Yahoo" and used the same name but with an obscure age, on purpose, which was "13" just to see what it would do/say now? Well, low and behold, that too was published! If I was indeed "13" wouldn't that be illegal? Because that would have clearly denoted that I was a child and underage! So, what is happening and who/what is publishing my "User name/Avatar" on the internet? It seems as if they have been "Cached"? Whatever that means? Who does that? Why? How can it be stopped? Isn't it a violation of my Privacy Rights? Please let me know-Thanks!

[Barkley Hound]

ANYTHING you publish on the internet can show up in a search engine. That is why you must not give out personal information. There is no way to stop it. The only things that are private are items that take an ID and password to access. You do not have to sign in to view Yahoo Answers.

When you say "published" you are not being very clear. There are things you can see when you are signed in someplace that others can't.

₪ ʎəɿʞɹɐq ₪

[Yahzmin (US)]

Many sites have age limits, but they are not enforceable. Nor do they verify them, in many cases. And there are virtually NO privacy rights anywhere on the internet. That is why it is so harmful for children to be allowed access to the internet without adult supervision. Information posted on sites like MySpace and Twitter, Facebook and others, is readily available - because we AGREE to that when we sign up. Putting ourselves - and our children - at risk.

Most search engines 'crawl' sites (or get linked to their data directly), so they will show links to your questions, answers and other information that you have made available. You can hide your profile here on Yahoo Answers; you can set things to 'private' on your MAIN Yahoo profile page ( http://pulse.yahoo.com ), and you can choose to 'not update' things you post here, using Settings there on your pulse page. But other sites can still extract your q&a from here, using different types of code, because Yahoo Answers is a PUBLIC site and allows that.

The only way to achieve privacy on the internet is to not use it.