Surveillance 2: Circle of friends

ZDNet US ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 24 Feb 2000 15:22 GMT

Total strangers are busy watching every move you make. They know what you had for dinner last night, which brand of underwear you prefer and how much you spent on that mad night out last Saturday. They can rattle off your mortgage balance and tell you how much you owe on every credit card in your wallet. They have your date of birth, your mother's maiden name and your last three addresses.

If you write an email at the office, they can read it, and they can scroll through a list of every Web site you visited today when you were supposed to be working.

Outraged? It won't do any good to call 999, because it's all perfectly legal. Oh, and here's the rub: you gave away all that information yourself, freely and willingly, and you can't get it back.

Take me to the Surveillance 2 ZDNet News special.