CDT advises consumers on protecting Web privacy

To protect privacy, Web surfers as much as possible should use anonymous "remailer" programs, delete cookie files and clear memory caches after spending time online.

Those are among the recommendations listed in the Center for Democracy and Technology's Guide to Online Privacy, released Tuesday.

The consumer's guide arrival follows a damning Federal Trade Commission report on consumer online privacy released earlier this month and comes a week before a U.S. Department of Commerce-sponsored privacy conference is to begin in Washington.

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The CDT, a non-profit Internet-issues lobbying group, offers a list of tips for Internet users to safeguard their personal data, along with a demonstration showing the kind of data Web sites can collect from users without their knowledge. The report also tells Web surfers what they should look for in sites' privacy policies, and gives details on legislative protections for consumer privacy.

The issue of online privacy has become one of the most hotly debated topics in Washington, with lawmakers scrambling to find a legal ground between overregulation of Web sites and protections for vulnerable Internet users, particularly children.

'When you go to a site that has no policy, write them and tell them that you are a user of their site, that your privacy is important to you.' -- CDT recommendation

The Commerce Department meeting next week is the fourth in a series of conferences convened by Clinton administration officials to examine Internet issues since late last year, and it will be followed by a report on e-commerce and privacy issues by agency officials due to Clinton by July 1.

On Monday, Web portal GeoCities divulged in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had reached an out-of-court settlement with the FTC on allegations of misuse of consumer data.

And last week, America Online Inc. (AOL) settled with a U.S. Navy sailor who had sued the online service over his inadvertent "outing" by an AOL customer service representative.

Keep e-mail separate
The FTC's report said only 14 percent of consumer sites told users what data was collected from them and why, and said 89 percent of all children's sites collect names, addresses, telephone numbers, and even details such as household income, with only 23 percent first obtaining parents' permission.

What do you think of the CDT's recommendations? What do you do to protect online privacy?Add your comments to the bottom of this page.

With such potential for private data to fall into the wrong hands, the CDT guide advises Netizens to keep personal e-mail in a separate account from workplace e-mail, to teach children that filling out online forms is the same as talking to strangers, and to use sites with comprehensive privacy policies whenever possible.

"When you go to a site that has no policy, write them and tell them that you are a user of their site, that your privacy is important to you, and you would like to see them post a policy," the guide suggests.

A good privacy policy should tell users what data is being collected and why, what tools are being used to collect the data, whether the user can ask that his or her data not be collected, and where a user can find redress in case of a complaint, according to the CDT guide.

Encryption available
Users should also ensure that online forms are securely encrypted before submitting sensitive data such as financial or medical information, the guide suggests. Newer Web browsers will show a key symbol on the bottom of the screen if the form is secure.

Finally, the guide offers links to anonymous remailer programs and "anonymizers" that allow anonymous Web surfing.