Motor Vehicles information, including photos, to the Clinton Administration's plan to assign every American a "unique health identifier" that could be used to create a giant database of our medical records from cradle to grave, without adequate safeguards to prevent unauthorized dissemination.
             Internet Privacy: an Oxymoron in Progress
             A swirl of recent events only seems to confirm fears that consumers cannot trust their privacy to the Internet.
             There are many sources of the problem: data-hungry Internet firms bent on exploiting personal information; inattention to security and persistent technological glitches; and a growing underground of hackers who are willing to take advantage of the situation.
             Much of the recent attention was focused on DoubleClick, the Internet ad firm. But several other less publicized incidents have added fuel to the fire.
             For instance, Outpost.com, a Web site offering palm pilots and other hi-tech gear, promised to fix a glitch that potentially revealed customers' detailed transaction summaries, including e-mail, billing and shipping addresses, type of credit card they used, and their order history.
             Outpost.com customer James Wynn noticed his order number was in his URL address. When he changed digits in the URL address, he was able to see other customers' orders. Craig Andrews, an Outpost.com spokesman, told Wired News the problem would be fixed January 24, the day that it was brought to the company's attention.
             In Jacksonville, Florida, the credit card information of 227 area customers of local ISP Community Connections has been exposed for two years because of a glitch in Microsoft Front Page, software that allows subscribers to sign up online. According to the January 28 Gainesville Sun, one of the ISP's customers discovered the Web address to find the credit card numbers as well as other subscriber data, including name, address, telephone number and passwords. The customer alerted ...