Privacy

Overview Keeping your private information private is becoming increasingly difficult in today's connected world. The Web offers a huge amount of information, tools, and entertainment, but often at a price: your privacy. Many "free" resources require you to register, sign in, or otherwise give away your name, address, and even your phone number. Unscrupulous Web sites may install "spyware" on your computer to collect information about your computer habits. It's not just online, either. Getting the best deals at the grocery store often requires a "preferred customer card", and to apply for the card you must supply your name and address.

General Information A. Michael Froomkin's article mentioned in the Issue section is called "Flood Control on the Information Ocean: Living with Anonymity, Digital Cash, and Distributed Databases" and is available at www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/ocean.htm. Glen Roberts' "The Stalker's Home Page" is online at www.glr.com/stalk.html. The links at this site are truly awesome and essential armament for protecting your privacy in this age of electronic databases. The Cyberlaw Encyclopedia has compiled an index of cyberspace law subjects. Check out its "privacy" links by connecting to http://gahtan.com/cyberlaw. For information about the development of law in cyberspace read the article "Law and Borders--The rise of Law in Cyberspace" at www.cli.org.

You might want to read "The War Over Your Personal Privacy Is Over. You Lost!" By Angela Gunn in the Seattle Weekly (July 8, 1999) (www.seattleweekly.com). If you're concerned about Web cookies, turn to "How Web Servers' Cookies Threaten Your Privacy" at www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html. The Privacy.net home page (www.privacy.net) does an excellent job of categorizing privacy issues. If you are concerned about who has access to your personal data, such as medical records and credit reports, you can check the Consumer Action Organization (www.consumer-action.org), where you'll find some sage advice about your Social Security number. Note that you can retain some degree of anonymity on the Internet by using some of the software available at the Privacy Protection Software site www.firewallguide.com/privacy.htm. At the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (www.privacyrights.org), you'll find information about additional ways to safeguard your privacy and prevent identity theft.