The Centre for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group, has released a new report claiming that fair privacy practices are the exception rather than the rule on the Internet.

The report, "Behind the Numbers: Privacy Practices on the Web'', (www.cdt.org) found less than 10 percent of sites meet the minimum standards set by the Federal Trade Commission. In other words, your personal information is being collected for use by people you don't know.

A US Senate sub-committee is addressing an act that would force Internet-based companies to provide a way for consumers to control the personal data being collected about them.

The law would also compel Internet firms to guarantee the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the information.

In July, the FTC advised the US Congress self regulation was the way to go based on industry claims that new companies would find it too onerous and expensive to respond to consumer requests for privacy protection.

Hmm, sounds like a fix to me. In the meantime take steps to protect what information is being released when you visit Internet sites. Encrypt your messages using software such as Pretty Good Privacy. Fight spam (junk e-mail) by blocking messages.

You should be able to do this with the e-mail software you have. Don't answer the spam or this may alert whoever is sending the offending messages that your e-mail address is active.

Don't volunteer information about yourself in exchange for free services. Look for the Truste label, a licence from an organisation attempting to instil consumer confidence in the Internet.

My favourite method is to regularly clean out all "cookies'' from my browser before surfing. Cookies are a piece of software sent to your computer and stored by your browser. They are used to track your browsing preferences so when you visit a site again, the cookie will inform the company you're back.

The files identify the computer you're using.

Turning off the "accept cookies'' option ends up to be too complicated as you get a myriad of prompts when you visit various sites. By deleting the cookies you thwart the tracking.

In Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, select Tools, Internet Options, Temporary Internet Files, Settings, View Files. Then select all the files and delete.

You can do the same in Netscape Navigator 4, by choosing Edit, Preferences and Advanced.

Media.com: The Internet has spawned quite a few new publications that are known in the lingo as webzines. These publications exist solely on the Internet.

Some of them exist on the far side, others are more or less serious. Anyone can get on their soap box and rant on the web -- it's cheap and easy.

Finding something to say and of interest to others, much less getting them to pay for it either through advertising revenue or subscription, is the hard part.

Putting aside those webzines for wackos and more generalised sites by the mainstream media, there's a lot of special interest content being created by individuals and those hankering to be media moguls.

They even hold their own annual event. Webzine '99 (www.webzine99.com) was held July 24 in San Francisco. There are webzines like Ooze (www.ooze.com), a humour publication created by M.J. Loheed, Matt Patterson and Eddie Schmidt, a trio of comedians who are relatively well known for their spoofs. Ooze in their own words contains a smattering of bogus journalism, ignorant ramblings, and folksy homilies that give you inspiration throughout the day.

Trip through the Webzine '99 site to the "zine directory'' link, scroll down past the "personal narrative'' directory to the "particularly new media'', "pop'', "literary'' and "critical review'' classifications to get an idea of what's welling up on the Internet.

Cookies, spam and other Internet junkfood Born magazine (www.bornmag.com) is a particularly good webzine for graphic designers. Check out "The Letter'' for an interesting if slightly whimsical use of Internet technology. "The Skinny'' (www.skinny.com) is a magazine for disc jockeys. I really enjoyed reading some of the articles in the "Online Journalism Review'' (www.ojr.org) which notes the new media is challenging the traditional media for an audience.

One article notes a culture gap persists between journalists working in the traditional media. In another, veteran sports reporter Steve Klein describes his difficulty in getting press passes for his reporters covering events for the USAToday.com web site.

He wants accreditation, just like the regular media, for which he has spent most of his life working before moving to online publications. As he states: "Most newspaper web sites remain satisfied to simply rerun, or repurpose, their print-side stories. Then there's no need for additional credentials.'' He has founded SportsEditor.com as a lobby group for sports reporters. As he states, the fight for press box access will become more heated as traditional media fight to keep their seats at the game.

"The Movie-list'' (www.movie-list.com) has sparked off more of the raging debate about linking on the Internet. Movie-list is one of those many book mark reference sites which brings together or aggregates links on a particular topic of interest.

Movie-list features links to externally hosted movie trailers which you can download and view on your computer. Universal thought this was a very bad thing and sent site creator Jean-Pierre Bazinet a warning to stop the linking.

"You are not permitted to link to other sites that contain our copyrighted material without our authorisation,'' the company told him by letter.

"Accordingly, you must remove all images from our films as well as links to other sites that have our servers.'' Mr. Bazinet doesn't see how Universal can stop him putting in links. A story on the issue stated that since no court has ruled on the issue, a guiding precedent has not been established to govern who has the right to link deep into the web site of another person or company.

I think it would be overly restrictive to prevent linking.