'Net surfers not informed on privacy.(electronic commerce, protecting personal information)(Brief Article)(Column)

Online privacy is a certainly hot topic these days. Yet I'm willing to bet that most people don't take the time to read the privacy statements on the e-commerce sites they visit. If you're among the uninformed online shoppers and Web surfers of the world, maybe you should take a few minutes to see what you're getting yourself into.

For example, one portion of the privacy statement on Amazon.com reads: "Promotional Offers: Sometimes we send offers to selected groups of Amazon.com customers on behalf of other businesses. When we do this, we do not give that business your name and address. If you do not want to receive such offers, please adjust your Customer …