Most consumers say that they are not comfortable being tracked online, yet millions flock to social networking sites every day publishing information they say they don't want public. Not only is this information there to share with whomever wants it, but the information is also being stored. They say that companies should be required to get your permission before sharing any information collected about you, but if people would take the time to read user agreements when signing up for something on the internet, they will see that it is there.

So how much do companies actually know about you? Some say the information is minimal, scattered in different databases and can't be traced back to an individual, but privacy advocates say advertisers know a lot more than that. They say that Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley have merged forces to create what it calls an online marketing ecosystem, meaning every move someone makes online is collected, stored, and deployed to target consumers.

Behavioral advertising is the term used to describe the practice of tailoring advertisements based on a persons online activities. Companies routinely monitor online searches, website visits, specific pages viewed, geographical location, purchases made or even considered, posts and updates on social networking sites, and in some cases, even emails written and received. This means that information that you might have considered anonymous or unrelated are now correlated, collected, stored, and used to target you with specific advertising. Sometimes this information is then combined with public data, such as demographic information like age and gender, and used to create a detailed profile of you!

To avoid this, the best thing to do is avoid online activity completely, but in today's technologically run world, this is just not feasible. To gain some control over your online information there are some precautions you can take:

• Choose to opt-out of behavioral advertising when possible.
• Use different companies for different web-based activities, like email and searches.
• Limit how much information you supply to any one company.
• Be wary of downloading any software that includes a desktop “toolbar,” which are usually designed to assign cookies and other tracking mechanisms to your computer.

Safeguards for online privacy in America could change dramatically this year if proposed legislation aimed at protecting the privacy of data online is passed. Representative Rick Boucher, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, unveiled the draft bill in May. Though the bill offers some protections to consumers, such as requiring companies that collect personal information online to provide a clear and conspicuous privacy policy that details how data is collected and used, many advocates view the bill as weak and far from consumer-friendly.