Companies traffic in this stuff the way that the Medellin drug cartel traffics in cocaine. Venture capitalists pour obscene amounts of money into e-business plans that derive value from aggregating and sharing information about prospective browsers and buyers. In the new economy, it's not what you sell, it's whom you sell. Businesses are capitalizing on people's interests and attitudes. As the web renders distinctions between what is public and what is private increasingly ambiguous, this ambiguity raises serious ethical questions about who has the right to personal information and if such information can actually be bought and owned.
Consumers have to be vigilant.
They must choose privacy over convenience. They still hold some influence over businesses in that companies acknowledge consumers' privacy concerns by explicitly asking them for permission to share with partners the information they enter on websites. But consumers must be careful of losing this influence altogether. Because by choosing convenience, they show corporate America their willingness to relinquish the intangible right to privacy for the tangible benefits of electronic commerce and services. One day, they might not have this choice.