As the Internet booms, companies are selling products designed to give Web users peace of mind in an uncertain cyber-world. And with the legal situation surrounding on-line privacy still fuzzy, many say it's best to take control of matters yourself.
Web sites leave on surfers' computers.
Marketers use cookies to track users' Internet habits so they can be sent ads that are most relevant to their lives. Surfers use the Anonymizer site as a jumping-off point for the Internet. Sites they visit won't know anything about the surfer, except that they entered through Anonymizer. Anonymizer pledges not to track its users on-line movements. So far, U.S. laws governing Internet privacy are limited to financial information and children's privacy.