Yes, I protect the shit out of my personal info. I have introduced a seeding mechanism to figure out who is sharing my data whenever I sign up for things. Public records are different and you have to create a Trust or a company to hide behind to not be personally listed.

I would suggest anyone wanting to not be exposed to never use your real name or address online if you're not confident they won't share it. Introducing typos or initials or use a nickname for online orders that allow to list billing address separate from shipping address. Billing data typically has a better chance of not being resold, but there are no guarantees, read their TOS if not sure.

I really think you should do a how-to / AMA

Financial ignorance is an exceedingly exploited issue in the US, and I do not think anyone is doing anything about this.

Would you be willing to write up a guide of some sort about the steps that someone could take to protect their information? Personally, I would be willing to pay for something like that.