Oh, I know, I was agreeing with you. I just have visions of me running around the office with my laptop screaming "My name's on the Internet! I am somebody!"
It's not a bad idea to periodically run a Google search on your own name (use both "First Last" and "Last First" to pick up everything). I found a couple of posts I'd made to Yahoo groups which, although you had to be a member to post, made the archives readable to anyone. Nothing super-sensitive in them, but just a little more information about my personal interests and history than I wanted to be available to any stranger who types my name into Google. Both the posts were removed after my e-mail requests to the group owners. Other things can't be removed, but at least you know what information about you is publicly available.