If you're connected, you need protection. With a little care and some helpful utilities, you can enjoy all the conveniences of the wired world and remain hidden from prying eyes. But in many ways you're dramatically less anonymous online. What They Know about You As soon as you connect to the Internet, you set up a relationship in which you both give and receive. Once someone has your IP address, he or she can also figure out generally where you're surfing from.
Some sites go further and use cookies.
Your browser stores all the cookies together in a cookie file. Sites can easily track what you do during one visit, but it gets more complicated when you go away and come back later. That's where cookies come in. Cookies allow sites to keep track of who you are even if you haven't visited for a while. If you've ever registered on a site, it may have associated your name, address, and e-mail with all this other information.