Covering your tracks If you hate being tracked on the Web, you can opt out. But few people know that, and opting out doesn't work for every site. Businesses argue that it's useful for you to see ads in your area of interest. Also, they say, advertising keeps Web sites free. It's enough to place ads on sites that attract interested people, without peeping into the rest of your life.
Advertising is the least of it.
Cyberdossiers could be compiled, leaked or subpoenaed for divorce and custody cases, employment decisions, insurance coverage and malice. As databases enlarge and merge, Web marketers could have behavioral profiles of you to sell, says Junkbusters' Jason Catlett. The science of personal tracking is moving faster than we know. Laws protecting private data and conversations are needed, now.