One last thing. Plenty of people and companies -- including marketers, information brokers, private investigators, and criminals -- are working hard to make "our private lives become public commodities" (to quote the subtitle of a recent book on privacy). Right now there is very little privacy protection -- legal or otherwise -- for Internet users. So stay alert as you wander the lanes and byways of cyberspace. Many of the surveys you encounter will be entered directly into vast marketing databases. Your browsing at any one site -- some call it your click-stream -- can be captured and used to bolster a psycho-demographic profile of you. At work, your boss might be reading your e-mail. If you shop on the Web, be aware that at some point your health insurance company might find out about all those high-fat foods you like.

The most vexing thing about Internet privacy is that it is so closely tied to the convenience that we expect from the medium. When we interact with Web publishers and marketers, there is almost always a privacy-versus-convenience trade-off. You give up a little information about yourself or let a site store a cookie on your computer to get a free newsletter or admittance to a members-only Web site.

Fortunately, awareness of privacy rights in cyberspace is high now. Enlightened Web publishers and merchants are taking measures to protect consumers' privacy. If you are worried about protecting your privacy, you can favor these sites over those that violate or ignore your privacy rights. You can identify sites that value your privacy by looking for explicit privacy statements on their "about this site" page or by referring to privacy advocacy sites, such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

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