How concerned should the average user be, and what are the biggest risks?
People expose themselves online in all kinds of ways that they would not if they realized their vulnerability. Anyone who surfs the Internet should be concerned about the amount of information that’s shared and how long it’s kept. Your trail of information accumulates with data points giving a wide range of personal information to those seeking it. These data points are often sold to marketing companies who will then target you with pop-ups, spam emails, and other junk mail based solely on your online profile. To make matters worse, this information can even be sold to health insurance companies who may want to track what health information you’ve been seeking to deny coverage or increase your rates. For example, AOL released the “anonymous” search logs for 650,000 users. There was no “identifying information” attached to individual searches, but all searches done by the same person could be grouped together under some “anonymous” identifier. A reporter at the New York Times was able t
