Simply visit the free site DejaNews, type in someone's E-mail address and, instantly, you're presented with every public remark or question that person has left on the Net for up to several years. The implications are staggering. Suspicious spouses can check if their partners have been seeking on-line romance in any of the Net's many singles chat groups. Suspicious employers can spy on disgruntled workers who may be spreading critical messages about the boss or company in, say, an environmental forum. Web-savvy children can spy on their parent's favourite hobbies and chat topics, and vice versa.
Insurance companies can secretly monitor customer's lifestyle interests.
And private detectives can hunt down fugitives. Canadian Web sleuth Carla Edwards runs Datatrac, a tracing company out of Casper, Wyoming. Most of her clients are private investigators and bail-bond agencies. She uses DejaNews to track a person's interests, psychological profile, and even physical location. Most disturbing of all for a lot of people, perhaps, employers now can check out job applicants' travels on the Net.