PERSONAL INSURANCE BULLETIN
Forth Quarter 1999
While the Internet has brought more untold benefits to consumers, bringing a world of products and information into the home, the new access has also brought an erosion of privacy with it.
No matter how private using a computer in your office or living room may seem, visiting a web site and even sending e-mail can be a very public transaction. Big brother, or rather consumer researchers and company data bases know where you have been and how often.
According to the Georgetown Internet Privacy Policy Survey, 92.8 percent of sites in the sample collected at least one type of personal identifying information-a name, e-mail address or street address. More than half collected at least one type of demographic information, such as gender, preferences or zip code.
With new data like this being unveiled every day, it is no wonder a Harris poll found that fear of losing privacy was one of the top issues given for not going online.
What you do on the Internet is tracked by using ?cookies,? which are unique identifiers that track your every move on a web site. As you click, signals are sent which tell were you have been in cyber world.
Ad placement companies use the cookie files to record the details of who looks at which pages. If you use any of those popular web browsers,, there is a good chance the queries you type are being recorded as well. The cookie files can identify you as someone who searched for say information about cars on the web and have a good idea that you are interested in purchasing a new car, or at least have an interest in them.
Disabling cookies on your browser is a good first line of defense in protecting online privacy. You probably have the option to refuse all cookie files, or to warn you before accepting a cookie file.
Protecting privacy online isn?t always easy, but there is a growing number of places to go for help. Doing an online search for ?Protecting Internet Privacy? may just send a signal that you are someone who is interested in keeping the room to just yourself and the computer.
