micropayments in the form of personal information [ 3].

One billion users, while a very large number, represents less than 18% of the global population and just a fraction of those who will turn to the Internet in the future. Although some progress has been made, these most sensitive of our hopes, dreams, and intentions [ 2] are routinely passed to online companies that scrupulously log and retain our revelations, sometimes indefinitely, where they are data-mined to allow customized advertising and help improve our online experience. Encryption offers little help, as online companies are a trusted party in the communication. Your computer and its Internet connections accelerate the loss of privacy. Counterintuitively, the more usable a given online application, the worse it is in terms of our personal privacy. Online companies are not the only ones with access to this information. It also flows across the networks of our ISPs, which have the power to collect, and even alter, practically every bit we send and receive. The information visible to online companies and the ISPs is largely the same; only the network vantage point is different.

In most instances of online navigation and interaction, it would be prudent to assume that these disclosures are never discarded. Once a disclosure is made, it can never be undone. At best, we must trust our ISPs and online organizations to eventually discard the information. At the same time, network neutrality is under attack. We cannot assume the information we receive is what the information provider actually sent.

In some ways, trust is increasingly irrelevant, because, if we are to be members of the Internet-enabled society, we have no other option but to rely on the powerful tools we have at our disposal (such as those provided by major search engines). Like rats forced to endure electric shocks to acquire food, we must use these tools to acquire information and communicate. The implications of data disclosure and retention are profound, including corporate and law-enforcement abuses and identity theft, as well as sec-ond- and third-order effects impossible to predict. Those of us who are aware of the risks already self-censor our activities, even as we continue to indulge them.

part of the Internet fabric. Approximately one billion Internet users worldwide rely on networked technology to provide information and interconnection for all aspects of their lives, both personal and professional. Everything from our physical location, to what we think, to who we know can all be found in this data. Despite the best intentions of those doing the collecting or communicating, it is impossible to guarantee it will stay private or not be used for some malicious purpose. As an example, AOL disclosed, in August 2006, the search queries of some 657,000 of its users that contained sensitive and personally identifying information [ 1]. This incident only hints at the risks the world’s most powerful leaders, as well as ordinary citizens, face when using myriad “free” tools (such as search, email, mapping, news, word processing, calendaring, and blog hosting). Free online services aren’t really free; we pay for them with