Online Privacy information There are a number of ways your identity and privacy can be compromised via the Internet.

General Privacy Resources

• Electronic Privacy Information Center   - EPIC cover all aspects of privacy on and off the net.  Of particular use is Epic's Guide to Practical Privacy Tools and Epic's Guide to Privacy Resources .
• Privacy.net - lots of resources including a cookie demo and analysis of your internet connection.
• Privacy page from Firewallguide.com.
• junkbusters - describes how to reduce spam, telemarketers, and junk snail mail.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation - The EFF has many resources
• Security Homepage from about.com.
• How to take back your privacy (from PCworld)
• Privacy Online: A report on the Information practices and Policies of Commercial Web Sites (PDF - 91 pages).
• Home Network Security - A good write-up from CERT.

Statistics about the online threat

• Code Red Growth - Watch these animations to see how rapidly this virus infected the world (doubled every 37 minutes).
• Code Red Scans - shows that Code Red is alive and well after one year.
• CERT Statistics -Show how many attacks are being reported to Cert.
• Saphire Slammer Worm  infected 75,000 machine worldwide in only 10 minutes. (Doubled every 8.5 seconds) - CAIDA Analysis.
  

Identity Theft - Once someone learns enough about you, they can assume your identity and cause havoc in your finances.

• Identity Theft - maintained by the Federal Trade Commission
• Identity Theft and Fraud - A primer from the US Department of Justice.  
• Identity Theft Resources - from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
• http://www.idtheftcenter.org/, Identitytheft.org,   http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs18-cyb.htm .... http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/optalrt.htm ,,,
• Identity Theft via  fake Job Listings.
• Articles: Feds Charge 3 in Massive Credit Fraud Scheme, Huge Military ID Theft, Hacker hits up to 8 million credit cards.

Privacy Policy Resources-

• Privacy policies defined:
• Organizations that monitor privacy policies: TRUSTe , BBB , AICPA , Online Privacy Alliance .
• Example Web Site Privacy Policies: Nintendo , Yahoo , (Policy change at Yahoo ), DrKoop.com sells email addresses  in bankruptcy ,
• Platform for Privacy Preferences - P3P is a new standard that gives the ability to set a privacy preference in the web browser. They  have a list of example websites that Use P3P .
• Example P3P policies: msn , 

User actions:

• Keep Your Windows operating system up to date (start menu --> windows update) or click here .
• Get the Latest updates for your Microsoft Office Suite.
• Check for updates for any other software that is Internet-aware (Firewall, antivirus program , Chat program, etc)
  
• Disable hidden filename extensions -
• Learn about your operating system: windows, Macintosh. Linux, etc.
• Do you have a passport account?  Look through these articles from EPIC .
• ShowPassword - displays the password behind any **** entries  in Windows.
• How to convert a partition to the NTFS  File System - ( same article for XP )  You need NTFS if you want to enable Microsoft's file encryption features. See other articles: Best Practices for the Encryption File System

• Cryptographic Software solutions and how to use them . summary page

offline storage options -

• Kanguru Disk - An internal hard drive that is removable and can act like an external drive as well.
• USB flash memory Hard Drive - Very cool - example list from Tiger Direct .
• Browse through CNET for many more examples.
  

Ways for someone to research about you-  See my Searching the Internet for an individual page.

Future?

• GPS in a watch ,  drivers license  site (national database ?),
• grocery stores are tracking you in more ways than you realize.
• Supermarket Member discount cards - get all the details here.
• Spychips - being embedded in your purchases?
• "Hollywood Hacker Bill" - a proposed law may allow copyright owners to hack into your computer. article , article #2 ,
• video surveillance from EPIC.org
• Buying Trouble - an article that shows how common data, such as your local supermarket purchases, may be bought, sold, or given away.
• SSN and Privacy - A list of Frequently asked questions.
• All eyes are on you - an article showing the many ways you are tracked during a typical day.
• e911 - your cell phone will be able to track your physical location.

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