real address, phone number, and any other information that is requested. Often, by giving up information, a user will receive special benefits for "registering" such as a better version of some software or being allowed into "member only areas" (Boyan, Codel, and Parekh 2). E-mail is like a postcard. E-mail is not like mailing a letter in an envelope. Every carrier that touches that e-mail can read it if they choose. Not only can the carriers see the message on the e-mail, but it can also be electronically intercepted and read by hackers. This can all be done without the sender or the receiver ever knowing anything had happened (Pepper 1). E-mail is the most intriguing thing to hackers because it can be full of important data from secret corporate information to credit card numbers (Rothfeder, "Special Reports" 2).The only way to secure e-mail is by encryption. This makes an envelope that the hacker cannot penetrate. The downside to using encryption on a huge network like the Internet is that both users must have compatible software (Rothfeder, "Special Reports" 2). A way to protect a persons e-mail is to use an autoremailer. This gives the sender a "false" identity which only the autoremailer knows, and makes it very difficult to trace the origin of the e-mail (Boyan, Codel, and Parekh 4). Another but more controversial way of gathering data is by the use of client-side persistent information or "cookie" (Boyan, Codel, and Parekh 2). Cookies are merely some encoded data that the website sends to the browser when the user leaves the site. This data will be retrieved when the user returns at a later time. Although cookies are stored on the user's hard-drive, they are actually pretty harmless and can save the user time when visiting a web site (Heim 2). Personal security is an important issue that needs to be dealt with but business security is also a major concern. "An Ernst and Young survey of 1271 companies ...
