How long can accounts be reported?

One of the items on my credit report lists a Capital one credit card debt from 2000 that i thought would have been erased from my report about two years ago. They list a "last reporting date" as 2009. What does that mean? Are they allowed to do that?? It seems if they are allowed to do that, they can keep it on my report ad infinitum by "reporting" it each time the debt erasure deadline draws near.