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A Not-So-Private Little War

Welcome to privacy in the new millennium, where surfers are caught in a tug-of-war with Web sites over who owns their personal data and what can be done with it. In the year and a half since PC World published its special report "Privacy in the Internet Age," e-commerce has exploded, doubling in volume each year. And as the Net gradually becomes the medium most Americans use to get news, buy groceries, rent movies, obtain medical advice, and possibly vote for presidential candidates, what little personal privacy they once had may soon disappear.

In some cases, we have only ourselves to blame. Millions of people voluntarily give out personal information to Web sites in exchange for free goods and services. These days, you can get e-mail accounts, Web hosting services, Internet access, even high-speed DSL connections without ever cracking open your wallet. But to take advantage of such offers you must surrender bits and pieces of your identity, from your name and e-mail address to your buying and reading habits. Businesses then market this information to advertisers, or in some cases, to anyone else who may want it.

At the same time, it's increasingly difficult to trust any site to keep your personal information safe from intruders. Lax security at many Web vendors has made the Internet a hacker's paradise. In the past six months, dozens of major Web sites have suffered theft of credit card information and acts of vandalism such as last February's spate of denial-of-service attacks. As PC World has discovered, even the biggest e-commerce sites can fall prey to crackers--hackers who attack with criminal intent (see "E-Commerce's Dirty Little Secret").

In addition, the Web has spawned a booming industry of companies peddling so-called investigative services and software. Loads of personal information--from your Social Security number to your driving records--can be purchased online for a pittance by anyone interested in tracking you down or assuming your identity. In most cases, the sale of this data is perfectly legal. But the results can sometimes be deadly (see "They Know Everything About You").

Sure, you can try to protect yourself by giving out false information or using services that cloak your identity and IP address as you surf, post to newsgroups, and send e-mail (see "The Eyes of Richard Smith"). But as soon as you hand over your credit card to pay for a book or a vacation, your anonymity is gone.

In fact, the biggest threat to your privacy today isn't crackers, stalkers, or data brokers. It's the legitimate online businesses--such as advertising networks, retailers, and others--that are creating detailed profiles of who you are and what you do when you are on the Web.