An amazing amount of personal information is readily available on the Internet. For example, if you ve forgotten the date of a friend s birthday, just check http://anybirthday.com. That brings up another disquieting thought. Just how many companies or web sites use a birth date to verify identification? Once you know the birthday, it s simple to send a free, digital greeting card, but when you e-mail that card to a friend, have you also given it to marketers looking for new customers? In fact, have you compromised your friend s privacy or passwords?

It is not only individuals who worry about privacy. So do companies, although businesses may call the problem one of confidentiality. You all know company information is readily available on the Internet. As the greatest competitive intelligence gold mine of modern times, the Internet is now rife with cyber-prospectors and claim-jumpers. Many information professionals are familiar with the dichotomy of searching the Internet for as much information on the competition as possible, while trying to help prevent your own companies and your fellow employees from posting too much.

In fact, you must be careful not to disclose too much. As information professionals, sometimes the very questions you ask can be too revealing even without identifying information attached. Searchers could seriously compromise companies interests if certain patent or trademark questions became known. Also, given the rapid improvements in database mining techniques, it s possible that merely an increased number of questions concerning a particular company or technology could tip off investors to impending...