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The President's Identity Theft Task Force Deter, Detect, Defend Brochure Test Your Knowledge about Identity Theft — New OnGuard Online Quiz What To Do If Your Personal Information Has Been Compromised
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INTERNET PRIVACY TODAY -- WHAT ARE THE ISSUES? (click to read about the issues)
Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act
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INTERNET PRIVACY TODAY -- WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
THE NET WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR PRIVACY When you surf the web, send email, chat, and post to newsgroups, your computer leaves behind a digital footprint called an IP address. Footprints in the real world fade with time, but in Cyberspace, your IP address is recorded alongside the pages you accessed, the contents of your chat sessions, and even email you thought was long gone. The Internet's 35,000 newsgroups are now fully archived and searchable online as well. Combined with the tidbits of personal information you reveal casually online - your name and address for instance - your computer's IP address can be linked to your real-life identity. Even if you provide false information to website registration forms, or use password-protected web services, your personal information can easily be tracked down. Remember, the Internet was designed for computers to exchange information, not hide it. YOUR LIFE IS AN OPEN BOOK Internet traffic, such as email messages, are just like postcards. Anyone with a little technical know-how can intercept and read your messages, and discover who you're communicating with and what you're saying. The same is true with online chat rooms. It "feels" like you're anonymous, because you might use an online alias, not your real name. And when your words scroll off the screen, it's like they're gone forever. This couldn't be further from the truth. Your IP address is recorded alongside your chat conversations, which are stored in company database logs. You can never take back what you say online. YOU ARE THE TARGET (MARKET) Where you live, what you earn, where you went to school, your religious beliefs, who you voted for, your hobbies, your credit history, your marital status… Marketers want to know as much as they can about you, to identify what kind of car you might buy or what your next music purchase might be. The Internet is the perfect tool for marketers looking to compile detailed personal profiles of millions of consumers. Why? Because in the age of cheap data storage, most companies record every mouse click. It only takes a few tidbits of personal data to connect your computer's IP address with your online communications, and all kinds of detailed information about you can be recorded, tracked, aggregated, bought and sold. If you think this sounds far-fetched, think again. This kind of surveillance is happening now. BIG BUSINESS IS WATCHING Many of the web's most popular sites display banner-type advertising, almost always provided by one of several huge web marketing companies. Whenever your computer accesses a page with one of their ads, they take a snapshot of what you were looking at and put it in your profile. This is usually accomplished using "cookies" (little pieces of identifying data stored on your computer's hard drive) to recognize you if you visit any other partner sites. So next time you use a major search engine to look for a book, don't be surprised to find an ad for an online book club at the top of the page, and to get book club offers in the mail. For a long time. When a website asks for your birthday in order to display your horoscope, think about what you're revealing: linked to other info like your postal code (which you may have given out a few clicks back for the local weather report), and your IP address, your identity is easily determined. Suddenly all your habits and opinions are available to the highest bidder. SO WHAT IF THEY EAVESDROP?
You're a good person with nothing to hide, so why should you care if your
personal information and communications are vulnerable? Lots of reasons. Here are some examples of recent privacy breaches that can happen to you*:
*These examples are based on real-life cases. WHO CAN YOU TRUST? Many companies are taking advantage of consumer concern for online privacy by providing so-called "identity and relationship management" services. They ask you to fill out forms with ALL your personal information, and then hand out pieces of it to partner merchant sites. Only you have no control over what happens to your personal info once it's been transferred to the merchant. This is the opposite of privacy. (surf the web anonymously & protect your privacy)
personalinfomediary.com recognizes that our guests are concerned about online privacy. To address these concerns, Anonymizer.com -- an Internet privacy services & software company, is providing their Anonymizer Privacy Services - anonymous web surfing service. Anonymizer Privacy Services provides complete control over your personal information, from any PC that you use to access the Internet! The Anonymizer service, along with their optional "Anonymizer PrivacyButton" works with your existing Internet Explorer software, providing an On/Off switch for privacy and security anytime while surfing the Internet - completely private. Anonymizer.com offers services that: Prevent tracking by web sites, hackers and others; shields your IP address; and removes privacy threats from the pages you view.
Services available from Anonymizer.com:
Anonymizer.com - Anonymous, private web surfing!
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