Your Security While Online - Think About It

Computer World reported yesterday (May 6, 2011) that Senator John Rockefeller (D-WV) is going to introduce an online do-not-track bill.

The Senator was quoted in the article, "Consumers have the right to know when and how their personal and sensitive information is being used online..."

I take exception to that statement by the Senator, especially when it comes to 'personal and sensitive'.

First, the obvious. Personal information is Sensitive information. Putting those two words into the same sentence only serves to play on people's fears.

Second, people need to understand there are three levels of personal information. I break them down as such:

First level - what a person could learn about you sitting next to you in a bar, coffee shop or the break room at work. They could learn your first name, what town you live in, maybe your phone number. An easy way to look at this first level is whatever they can find out about you by looking your name up in the telephone book.

Second level - what your friends know about you. Your friends and family know your spouse’s name, the names of your children, birthdays, stuff like that. Your friends would also know if you served in the military where you went to college and where you work.

The last level is the level that can cause the most heartache in your life.

Third level - this is stuff only you and your spouse know. Account numbers, social security numbers, health information things like that.

Senator Rockefeller's Do-Not-Track Online Act only serves to play off the fears of the public.

Frankly I don't care who tracks what I do on the Internet, but then I have nothing to hide. I don't care if they know I searched Google for a product or service and then show me a little ad for that exact thing a few days later on ABC news website. Better than seeing an ad for something I'm not interested in, like a little blue pill or something.

Consider the three levels of information above. Think about what it is you give-up while you are online.

I'm not fully convinced that we need yet another law that will only serve to confuse people even more.