Web bugs can be fairly innocuous, providing advertisers with data on who is visiting a Web site. Or they can be intrusive, passing information that surfers enter into online registration forms to advertisers or marketers, Smith said. So it's sort of putting social pressure on Web sites. But privacy-enhancing software has its drawbacks. First, it can hamper performance because some services route through private servers that can make surfing slower.
Some programs require considerable computer savvy.
And the better ones cost money. Meanwhile, there has not been a groundswell of demand for online anonymity. It only appeals to about 5 percent of the population, said Christopher Todd, a Jupiter Media Metrix analyst. All the more reason to put the onus on Web sites and Internet service providers, privacy advocates say. Whether or not that ever happens, Internet providers could today choose to configure their servers to give subscribers some degree of privacy.