And wireless devices essentially beam our locations in real time. None of this is entirely new. The FBI has been tracking and intercepting criminals electronically for decades. Acquisition and analysis of consumers' shopping and spending preferences, habits and patterns have long been a staple of sophisticated marketing.
Direct mail targeted to potential buyers through the post office has a substantial track record.
The fact is very little bad has happened on the Internet privacy front. Even online advertising company DoubleClick Inc., which has been under siege for considering a business plan to combine information about customer transactions from both online and offline sources, was recently cleared by the Federal Trade Commission because the company never actually violated any of its privacy commitments. There is, however, a genuine, terrible privacy problem exacerbated by the Internet. The vast amount of information publicly available to criminals facilitates identity theft. The government estimates that more than 500,000 people are victimized each year, and it is costing consumers and financial institutions enormous sums of money, while victims suffer battered credit ratings and considerable psychological damage.