Who's zoomin' who on the Web? Internet privacy becomes a major issue for concerned cybernauts.

On the Internet, cookies aren't what they seem. They are mechanisms that allow a Web site to deliver data to a client (surfer). They can request that the client store the information and, sometimes, return the information to the Web site. These cookies leave behind crumbs that are bits of information about your browsing habits. By picking up these crumbs, Web site hosts, advertisers, service providers or direct marketers can actually track your movements to see what you see and where you go as you click your way through their site. However, these cookies can only be retrieved by the site that set them and can only contain data that you have provided, such as registration information or your activities within the site.

"Think of what it would be like if somebody followed you and recorded everything you did as you went through a shopping mall. This is what happens on the Web," says Beth Givens, project director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego. Most users don't know they can disable cookies through the Options menu on their browsers, she adds.

The Internet is hailed as a groundbreaking medium that is bringing people closer together through unlimited communications capabilities, but privacy advocates caution that, unless checked, information gathered on the Web could give rise to unsavory developments. Extensive online databases make accessing information on individuals and companies easier than it's ever been, giving people data to make decisions that affect you without your input or clarification.

"The interesting thing about this privacy issue is that sometimes you will never know when you've been discriminated against and why," explains Lori Fena, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco organization that examines privacy issues. "Sometimes having more information about you will cause people to make a choice, but it won't be the reason you are given," she says.

The available information runs the gamut from Social Security and criminal background information on individuals to financial information on companies. One Web site, www.deepdata.com, operated by Access Information Systems of Fair Oaks, California, says its super business filings search can retrieve virtually anything on companies, from the identities of the people and partners who own or invest in them to corporate filings that track company decisions, liens and court actions.

Another information broker, Hi-Tek Information Services of Studio City, California, boasts that "now you too can learn everything about your friends, neighbors, enemies, employees or anyone else!--even your boss!" Through its Web site on America Online at http://members.aol.com/tunzaemail/snoop.htm, Hi-Tek says it can find information on credit, current or past employment, military service, adoption and mail order purchases, as well as get addresses, unlisted phone numbers, driving records and court transcripts.

While much of the information that can be gathered is available through public records, privacy advocates say it is the potential for what can be done with the information that can spell problems, particularly information gathered when people visit Web sites. Fena points out, for instance, that if you're an employee and you spend too much time at a union Web site, that information might be of interest to your employer. Or if you regularly visit a site with AIDS information, then your insurance company might want to know why, she added. And what if you are a schoolteacher with a penchant for visiting adult Web sites?

Kirby Lewis, president of Informus Corp. in Jackson, Mississippi, which supplies human resources information to corporations and operates a Web site at www.informus.com, says companies have very legitimate needs for information, but agreed that the way it is used is critical to maintaining privacy. Informus, for instance, has clients attest in contracts to how they will use the data gathered. "Just because it's public record, in my opinion, doesn't mean that it's out there for you to check up on your neighbor," Lewis says. "Information's neither good or bad, it's how it's used."

A March 1997 Internet usage study by the Boston Consulting Group noted that 42% of respondents leave Web sites when asked to give personal information due to privacy concerns and 27% said they just lie when asked to give information about themselves. The study also revealed that purchases via the Internet could receive a $6 billion boost by the year 2000 if consumers believed their privacy wasn't at stake during such transactions. That's no small chunk of change to companies that have a major stake in increasing commercial usage of the Net.

To alleviate the fears of consumers, more than 60 major companies, including Netscape Communications, AT&T, IBM, American Express, Hewlett-Packard and the major Internet search engines, have come out in support of a proposed standard that lets Web sites deliver personalized information through a uniform system while protecting users' privacy. The system, dubbed TRUSTe, has created a number of "trustmarks" that will be included in sites on the Web to inform surfers about the personal information collected at the site and how it will be used.

However, the companies' desire to increase consumer protection on the Net does not arise from altruism. Many fear regulation by the government and have, in turn, proposed their own policing guidelines. The Federal Trade Commission held workshops this year to examine whether the Internet should be regulated to protect users, especially children.

Fena says eventually Internet privacy laws may need to take the shape of the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, which gives people the ability to find out what is in their report and who has accessed it, as well as correct mistakes. Advertisers, direct marketers, Web sites and Internet service providers also know that they will lose potential profits from electronic commerce if the public continues to believe that using the Internet to shop or bank means a loss of privacy.