Forwarded From: darek milewski <darekm@cmeasures.com>
Are You Naked Online? How to Protect Your E-Privacy
http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/adem2fpf/www.anchordesk.com/story/story_3102.html
Jesse Berst, Editorial Director
Wednesday, February 17, 1999
Remember streakers? Those nutty nudes of the seventies who darted across
college campuses?
I was always too uptight to join their au naturel jaunts. Now, more than
20 years later, every Netizen risks total exposure. Of email messages. Of
medical records. Of places surfed.
I still don't want to bare all. While most Internet businesses work hard
to protect your privacy, human screw-ups still happen. That's why these
recent headlines worry me:
Patient Records on Web: Patient records -- containing names, phone and
Social Security numbers, and medical treatments -- at the University of
Michigan Medical Center inadvertently lingered on public Web sites for two
months. Click for more.
Valentine's Day Cards Not Private: A programming glitch at the Hallmark
Cards Web site enabled curious folks to read other people's love notes --
and names, home and email addresses and places of employment. (Does Ken
Starr know about this site?) Click for more.
FreePCs Raise Privacy Concerns: More than 500,000 people submitted
personal information in a bid to win one of only 10,000 free PCs, which
will record user behavior. In other words, 490,000 people gave away their
privacy to enter a contest. In this case the stupidity was on the part of
the user. Click for more.
Prodded by paranoia, I investigated ways to protect me and my data from
prying eyes. Good news: There are ways to prevent online exposure.
Abstinence: The safest way to avoid unplanned privacy invasions is to
control yourself.
Don't send super-personal information via email. (That's what FedEx is
for.) Don't offer unnecessary info. Bigbookstore.com doesn't need your
height and weight. Restrict access to your files. Insist on it with your
doctor, banker and broker.
Privacy Policies: Scroll down to the bottom of any reputable Web site,
including this one, and you'll notice a link to the privacy statement. It
will tell you:
What info the site gathers about you What it does with the data With whom
it shares the data
If that policy's cool with you, browse freely. If not, surf elsewhere.
An independent consortium called TRUSTe verifies privacy statements and
"stamps" its seal of approval on sites that abide by its standards. TRUSTe
also oversees a site of its own where you can report privacy offenders.
Click for more.
Encryption: Think of email notes as postcards -- anyone can read 'em. Many
people rely on "security by obscurity" to protect their email secrets. As
in, "there's so much email zipping around no one's going to notice mine."
Encryption is a better method.
Encryption Primer: Click for more. Encryption Survival Guide: Encryption
expert Robert Gelman discusses how to encrypt your email. Click for more.
Online Transactions: ZDTV reveals how encryption protects online shoppers.
Click for more.
Be Vigilant: Despite my berst, er ... burst, of paranoia, there's no need
to worry constantly about electronic privacy. Let the professionals fret
for you. An occasional glance at one of their sites will keep you
up-to-date.
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Non-profit organization that lobbies for,
among other things, online privacy. Click for more. Electronic Privacy
Information Center: Excellent EPIC features news, tool and resources.
Click for more. FreeCrypto: Encryption site with political bent. Click
for more.
Unlike streaking, online privacy is not a passing fad.
-o-
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Received on Thu Mar 11 17:26:08 1999