Of the 100 sites tested, about half automatically collected personal or computer data about the people who were visiting the sites.
"A cookie is a small chunk of information that can be planted into your computer when you visit a website, and used without your knowledge."
A person's right to privacy on the Internet has become a hot topic of debate. Earlier this year, several of the Net's leading data collection agencies agreed to voluntary limits to minimize the invasion of privacy. They agreed that from now on, they would release personal information (such as a user's social security number, buying preferences, household income, and other data) only to "qualified subscribers" who promise to use the information appropriately. Previously, such information was available to any party that was interested in acquiring knowledge about an individual.
While this may sound like a great relief to many, the actions of these companies represent the exception rather than the rule. The fact is that there are hundreds of such organizations out on the Internet, all selling personal information to whoever is interested. With the right resources and some financial reserves, just about any type of information on anyone can be acquired. The scary thing is, much of this information is being gathered, bought and sold without our knowledge or consent.
The results were startling. Of the 100 sites tested, about half automatically collected personal or computer data about the people who were visiting the sites. Only about a third of the sites mentioned that they were actually doing such a thing.
Concerning privacy and protecting the information you disclose, only 17 sites even mentioned the privacy factor. Most of those came up short of what EPIC terms adequate disclosure: for instance, explaining why information is collected, how that information will be used, and what steps the site will take to limit improper use of the data. And only eight sites gave users some control over whether the website could share information with other companies or individuals.1
Marc Rotenberg, director of EPIC, sees a problem with the way that information is obtained and can be used. "If a person goes to the website and gives up his or her name, that person is not necessarily going to know how that information will be used, or if there will be any safeguards to protect that person's privacy, and we think that's a problem."2
Many websites enable the creation of "cookies." Basically speaking, a cookie is a small chunk of information that can be planted into your computer when you visit a website, and used without your knowledge. Almost a quarter (23) of the sites surveyed by EPIC used cookies. None of the sites bothered to mention that little fact to their users.3
When a user first visits a website and gives out personal information, the site's computer creates a cookie and stores it in the user's hard drive. This way, when the user next visits the site, the cookie will be retrieved, and the site will greet the user by name (and/or their e-mail address).
The problem with this is that the same technology that creates cookies can also be used to track other information as well. A cookie can track which sites a person visits, what pages a user looks at, etc., and then link the data to that person's name and address. Site owners can then sell the information to advertisers and other third parties, all without the user's knowledge or consent.
Some Internet browsers can be configured to notify the user when a cookie is set and let you choose whether or not to accept a cookie. Although this option offers some privacy, the process of surfing the Web slows down to a crawl. Instead of automatically accepting cookies, a user has to manually accept or reject them, and this option doesn't stop once you enter a site.
Some sites have cookies attached to each page you visit. For example, ESPNet contains as many as 2,500 separate pages on its website, most of which have their own cookie. Imagine the time it would take to browse the complete site while choosing to accept or reject cookies on each page. In addition, because the default settings on Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer are automatically set to accept cookies, many users are not aware of this feature. And as stated before, most sites that use cookies do not even mention it to users.
But I'd always followed the guidelines friends and other users told me. I didn't give out information to shady-looking websites. I asked my name to be taken off e-mail lists. I enabled my web browser to alert me to incoming cookies from other websites. And I made sure that any financial transactions done over the Net were done with a secure protocol. I was safe, right?
Wrong! Here's some of the information that was available about me:
There are dozens of other encryption programs available, and the list is growing rapidly as privacy becomes a larger factor. Some programs come as part of a suite of software programs (e.g., the Stronghold program on Helix Software's Nuts and Bolts); others, like McAfee's PCCrypto and NetCrypto, offer powerful features for encrypting and decrypting sensitive information before it gets sent as an e-mail attachment or file.
Electronic Frontier Foundation ([url=http://www.eff.org]http://www.eff.org[/url]): The site is dedicated to the protection of privacy, free expression, and public information on the Internet. The site contains updates on the online free speech and privacy campaigns, and links to other privacy organizations.
Electronic Privacy Information Center ([url=http://www.epic.org]http://www.epic.org[/url]): The site contains the June 1997 survey they conducted on data collection and provides other valuable information about privacy on the Internet.
Stalker's Home Page ([url=http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~glr/stalk.html]http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~glr/stalk.html[/url]): This site, the personal creation of Glen L. Roberts, provides numerous links to information databases and other data collection agencies. It's a great resource because everything's on one page for you.
The information provided in this column is not intended to scare any of our readers away from getting online, but to show the awesome power of the Internet, and how easily private information can be made public without one's knowledge or consent. If you are concerned about your right to privacy online, please contact EPIC or the Electronic Frontier Foundation and voice your opinion.
As always, we welcome your feedback. If you have any questions or comments about the Internet, or if there's a topic or website you'd like to see reviewed, please e-mail me or call me at the number below.
References
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