Bob Myman has stopped buying things over the Internet. I'm not comfortable about the Internet. Myman is worried not just about Net security but also about the online harvesting of Web surfers' data. He's far from alone. A UCLA study last fall found that nearly two-thirds of Internet users think people who venture online put their privacy at risk.
Web bugs can be even more invasive.
They are little pieces of Web code used mostly to track people's online behavior. Bugs can, however, be written to reach across the Internet into unprotected computers and steal files. By masking the numerical Internet address that identifies a user's computer, Web sites are prevented from tracking the user, who effectively surfs under an alias. Dozens of other privacy protection products exist, including Privada, Anonymizer, IDzap and Somebody. About a half dozen privacy products block banner ads and some are effective against Web bugs, says Richard Smith, chief technologist of the Denver-based Privacy Foundation.