Big Brother? Is he really watching? Yes and no.

Someone is watching. They can and do watch our every keystroke on our home computers. Viruses are not the only bad thing lurking out there.

If you are connected to the Internet you are subject to ‘Big Brother.’ Only this time it is not the government, although I am sure the government can and would use this technology if they desired.

Files are loaded onto your hard drive with out you even knowing it.

Much like viruses are loaded on your computer. They come from companies you may like. One company that denies this use is iWon.com, but many of the files on my computer were from them and directed back to them.

These files spy on you. They report transactions you have made. They report your personal information. They send this information back to companies to help them profile your buying desires. Then target you to receive certain information. This could be in the form of either snail mail or email or both.

How would email you received know you need to lose weight or if you credit is good enough to get a credit card?

I found some software that locates the spy software on computers. I personally had 118 such files. Not viruses, but worse. They were sending my personal information to many companies that in turn was selling this information to companies who would target my weaknesses. Guitars?

Yes I started getting ads from music sites and guitar sites.

Then you need a firewall to protect you in the future from this type of computer hacking – a good one will cost about $50.

A firewall blocks the information from accessing the Internet to return the information.

If it seems like something from James Bond, it may be. The problem is, this has been going on for quite a few years. It is not something new. Like the Internet itself – it is not a new idea – the Internet is over 30 years old.

Online transactions have gone from a few million a month at the turn of the century to a few million a day.

I guess I am waiting for the time when someone creates useful and productive software for the actual consumer. Right now the only people to profit from Spy Ware and Virus killers are the people creating and selling the preventative or inoculating software.

I would rather spend my money elsewhere. Wouldn’t you?