Do you feel safe when you're online? Or are you worried that you're being tracked by some sort of omniscient, omnipotent being that knows your name, your credit card number, your social security number, and how many John Tesh albums you've purchased from cdnow.com?
To be sure, there are many legitimate concerns about privacy on the ever-expanding Internet. Sometimes that "secure information" you submit to online merchants isn't really secure. Sometimes your boss is monitoring the e-mail you send from the computer in your office. And sometimes companies like DoubleClick buy access to the information that other companies have collected from you.
Are you bothered yet? You should be.
You also have the right to be bothered about those pop-up advertisements and all of that junk e-mail you've received, the minor annoyances that have become as commonplace as calls from telephone solicitors and the junk mail that graces all of our mailboxes almost daily. But aggressive advertising is not only a nuisance, it's also an invasion of your privacy.
The authors of this site are concerned about these online intrusions. We're of the opinion that people should be aware of Internet privacy and anonymity issues. With that in mind, we've created a guide that will introduce users to these issues-a guide that will explain the major areas of concern and the assorted attempts at regulation and legislation, as well as possible solutions to the lack of privacy on the Internet. Hopefully this guide will teach users to carefully read the privacy policies of the web sites they visit and to understand how the personal information submitted to these sites will be used.
It is our belief that the Internet can become a safer, more secure place, but the only way this will occur is if people learn how to protect themselves. C'mon--take some power away from the omniscient, omnipotent being inside the computer that wants to sell you stuff and follow you around.