High-tech companies want to connect our TVs with our PCs, our refrigerators with the Internet and our cell phones with our ovens. But the futuristic ideas gaining steam in Silicon Valley worry privacy advocates, who fear all this connectivity poses major security risks for consumers. While privacy on the Internet has long been a concern, consumer advocates say the sheer number of devices that will soon be hooked to the Net and the data about consumers that will become available to companies are dangerous. Most of the concern centers around the loss of control consumers experience once they enter cyberspace. If everything is linked to the Net, privacy advocates say, consumers won't be able to avoid leaving records of their personal information and won't be able to control how companies use that data.
Consumers already leave digital footprints just by casually surfing the Internet.
But tracking our movements will get easier for companies as more elements of our daily lives become connected to the Net. Privacy is about your identity. It's something you own and other people don't. No one should have access to your personal information but you. In the networked world of the future, however, information about consumers will flow from TV set-top boxes and various appliances to huge databases that can track customer habits.