Privacy Issues involved with the Internet

There is probably already some information about you on the Internet, especially if you are an adult and have a published telephone number. 

Guard your privacy on the Internet

Many web sites will ask you for information as a part of their membership.  Sometimes the information asked is very personal. They may request or require your e-mail address, birthdate, marital status, home ownership status, number and ages of children in the household, gender, household income and more.

Respected web sites providing free information or services generally use this information for one or more of the following purposes:

• as part of their web usage studies to attract advertisers to the site
• as part of their web usage studies to develop their information or services to better meet the needs of their visitors
• to send their members e-mail (often with advertising)
• to send their members regular mail with the member’s permission

It is possible that the information you provide on-line may be sold or rented to another firm.

To completely avoid any of these issues, you can simply not sign up as a member at any site that requires personal information. The problem is that you would lose access to some of the best information and services available on-line.