Introduction

Why write a book on privacy? Aren't there several technical books that deal with security? Even though many books cover computer security, there are no great resources on personal privacy.

Privacy used to mean making sure no one found your credit card sales receipt or got a copy of your e-mail. Within the past few years, the average person's personal information has become capable of being made available from dozens of sources. The worst part of the problem is that we freely give away our rights to privacy through all types of services, such as the Internet, e-mail, and surveys. We don't think about how little pieces of information about us can be pulled from many sources to create a full profile of what we buy, what we eat, where ...

Get Privacy Defended: Protecting Yourself Online now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.