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Personal Matters
The issue of privacy on the Internet is moving to the forefront

Over the past two or three years, our concerns for maintaining the integrity and privacy of our personal information have crystallized around the Internet e-commerce phenomenon. Two essential issues have emerged. On one hand, there is the matter of the extent of the information that an on-line business can glean from its customer's computer without the customer knowing about it. Additionally, there are concerns about the easily traceable electronic trail that each transaction leaves.

On the other hand, there is the question of Internet security and the possibility of your private information being intercepted by any semi-competent computer science undergraduate. That's not an exaggeration. The Internet was never intended to be a secure transmission facility. After its genesis as a Defense Department experiment in networking, the Internet was adopted by the academic community as a way to promote the free and open flow of useful information. The basis for Internet transmission, TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), is not even particularly well suited for establishing secure transmission methods.

Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission authorized a study by a group from Georgetown University that is examining how websites collect personal information from consumers and what is done with the information. There is widespread concern in the on-line industry that this study paves the way for government regulation of electronic data collection. The most likely regulatory action would be one that requires on-line companies to provide "subject access" to anyone requesting disclosure of personal information that has been gathered by the company. The cost to integrate that capability into existing systems would be enormous.

With that impetus, more and more on-line businesses are beginning to realize that they will have to do something to assure their increasingly computer-savvy customers that their personal information is safe. Leading the way, at least from a public relations point of view, is IBM, the second-largest advertiser on the Internet. Big Blue has decided not to advertise on any website that doesn't clearly explain its policy on collecting personal information and how it will be used, sold, or otherwise disseminated for marketing purposes. In doing so, IBM becomes the first large company to tie its advertising to a privacy policy.

Other companies and organizations are taking things a step beyond policy-making. The ubiquitous Microsoft and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, though they seem unlikely bedfellows, have collaborated to produce a software product that will help consumers regain some control over their personal information. The software will enable web browsers to "read" and evaluate the posted privacy policies of the websites that are so equipped. The information is then digested and reported to the consumer so that he or she can make a quick, yet informed, decision on whether or not to proceed with a transaction. Currently, however, distribution of the software is being held up by a patent dispute (Microsoft does seem to spend a lot of time in litigation), and it use will require consumers to upgrade their browser software when and if it makes its debut.

In the meantime, some innovative companies are offering the consumer tools for navigating the web in security that are somewhat more proactive. One software package supplies the web-surfing user with a false identity that is erased when the user leaves the site. Other approaches focus on encryption. A Canadian company called Zero Knowledge is offering a service that encrypts an entire communication, then breaks it into three segments for transmission and decodes it at three randomly selected computers before forwarding it to the intended recipient. The company CEO says that it is "a system a Chinese dissident could rely on."