The privacy we all need on the Internet isn't automatic and it takes a few steps to achieve. I go over some of those I use on my FaceBook page.

Just like you have to intentionally put curtains up on your windows so people can't look in, you have to intentionally make the Internet so others can't spy on you. I'll mention two things that pertain to the Internet as a whole and four that pertain to one of the big privacy threats on the Internet- FaceBook. By the way, I'm not saying FaceBook is evil, just that social networks can be used for evil and FaceBook is one of the biggest social networks.

A relatively new way to process credit card payments, Square-Up is in use now. It was created by one of the pillars in the Web2.0 world (Jack Dorsey who is the "Twitter creator"). However, will it help or hurt the merchant?

Square-up is a device you plug into a mobile device's USB port to make that mobile device a credit card scanner. But this kind of set-up comes with many security problems and it will cause even more problems with PCI-DSS compliance which anybody who takes credit card payments has to now worry about.

As convenient as ecommerce can be, it also is confusing and there is a tremendous risk. Here are some ideas that you should keep in mind whenever you are buying something online.

I keep seeing ads floating around the Internet claiming they will keep your information private on the Internet. But how much of their claim is real?

One such program "hide my ip address" says that "The Internet is NOT Anonymous" and "Discover Why Your PC is Broadcasting ALL Your Personal Details And How You Can Hide Your IP Address!" Let's look at their claims here.

ID theft can impact your monetary situation like having money stolen from your bank account, your credit ratings ruined, an increase in your income taxes due. It can also hurt you in less tangible ways like keeping you from getting a job.

The need to protect one's name is nothing new. Even Shakespeare talked about it.

The conflicts over the Kashmir border has been taken up by part-timers on the Internet. Pakistan's cyber-militia attacked India's CBI (like the CIA in America) after a militia there attacked 35 government sites in Pakistan. And now India is getting ready for more.

The security industry is panicking this week because of the breach at Gawker. Gawker, a National-Enquirer wannabe is a site with nine popular Blogging systems. It has had its whole password database stolen which included millions of its users email and passwords. Twitter, Yahoo, World-of-Warcraft, LinkedIn and more are all requiring some to reset their passwords if you are on the list.

The idea is simple, if a site senses that you are using a targeted site like Chase.com then it secretly switches that tab to a fake login page. You think you are logging into a site that you already assure yourself is legit but you are actually giving your credentials away to criminals.

This scheme was unveiled by Aza Raskin at Mozilla. He is the creative leader of Firefox. Since this is only a Proof-Of-Concept as of this writing (May 2010), we surfers have a chance to change our ways before it becomes popular in the criminal world.

The Sans diary is a great place to get a feel for what is out there. Some of the latest entries gave me an idea of some techniques used by cyber-fraudsters:

Well, word just in that Energizer Bunny is a threat to a PC's health and security. This points-out a couple of issues users need to address.