Internet PrivacyIn this new age of the Internet, most people use the Internet to acquire information of one kind or another. But what these people are not aware of is that the Internet collects information about them. Every time we access the Internet, the privacy of our personal information may be compromised. Information flows in both directions. With every mouse-over over a hyperlink or addition to the mailing list, someone out there may be collecting information about us. This increases the seriousness of the privacy of our information on the Internet. In recent times we might consider the right to privacy one of our greatest achievements in our society. Unfortunately the same is not true for the Internet. The Internet, once considered a place of free exchange and sharing of information, has the potential to become the greatest threat to its users. The commercialization of the Internet is one of the main reasons why the chances of compromising our privacy have increased. Customer profiling, address swapping, or simply not caring about sensitive customer information are just some of the threats that this commercialization has brought to our "free" Internet. Another reason is that as threats increase there is a regular change in the technology to counter them. These changes make it harder for already overworked users to cope with ever-changing technology. Thanks to HTTP, a web server running some simple software programs can acquire our IP address and thus collect information about us from our computer. This information can be anything from the type of software running on your computer to access to all our email contacts. Sometimes less desirable… middle of the paper… than how we, the general population, change so that appropriate changes made in the right direction can be effective.6. References1. Unknown. Privacy in Cyberspace: Rules of the Road for the Information Highway (August 2003). Clearinghouse for privacy rights. March 29, 2004. http://www.privacyrights.org/netprivacy.htm2. Unknown. Protecting Privacy on the Internet (2003). Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner. March 29, 2004. http://www.privacy.gov.au/internet/internet_privacy/3. Roger Clarke. Information Privacy on the Internet Cyberspace Invades Personal Space (May 1998). Xamax Consulting Pvt. Ltd. 29 March 2004. http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/DV/IPrivacy.html4. Unknown. Ethics. Santa Clara University Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. March 29, 2004. http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/NQuinn/COEN288/EngrHandbook_Ethics.pdf