PrivacyPlace editor Tom Maddox on the erosion of consumers' online privacy. We sit around nights watching sitcom re-runs, scarfing down junk food, fully intending to hit the gym and lay off the TV watching come the weekend. There's no denying that we are slaves to our appetites, and those same cravings that lead us into detrimental lifestyles naturally extend to our online practices. Every day, consumers around the world gladly hand over tidbits of personal information in exchange for the ease and convenience of getting the products they want, says Tom Maddox, science fiction writer and editor of PrivacyPlace , a new online magazine covering privacy issues.
People are very trusting on the Web.
When reports on Nov. 1 surfaced indicating the software secretly collected information about the music preferences of its users, privacy advocates were outraged. Some consumers might think their personal information, from online purchases to their choices in music, is being kept reasonably safe by the companies they do business with. Yet consider, Maddox says, that companies worldwide are compiling all of this data, and might soon share it with other organizations if they aren't doing so already. You'd be hectored by people offering you products aimed at high risk people. Government regulation is a possibility, Maddox allows, but federal agencies move too slowly when it comes to technology matters.