Think about it: Just because your reader can't see you doesn't give you right to be rude, but there are millions of Net users who feel that it does. I've been called names I'd rather not repeat in polite company and have been replied to in ALL CAPS. I'm not deaf.... THERE'S REALLY NO NEED TO YELL.

I attribute this newfound sense of rudeness to feeling of invisibility one gets while sitting behind keyboard. I mean, would you really come up to me face to face and call me a "Jackass" when you can't read simple directions on how to unsubscribe yourself from my ezine? I think not.

In this new digital age it appears we've taken everyday common courtesy and thrown it right out window. Whatever happened to "please" and "thank you?" My mother, who taught me as a child to call all adults 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.' would have cardiac arrest over emails I receive on a daily basis.

Remember "Golden Rule?" "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you." Translation: before you call someone names, swear at them, report them to Spam Cop or do any other annoying gesture, stop and think. Maybe you did subscribe to that ezine and just don't remember. Try giving someone benefit of doubt before firing off an ugly email message that a real live breathing human being with feelings is going to read. Computers may not have feelings, but people do and there's a person behind every email address and/ or website.

Here are 'Top 10 Do's and Don'ts' for online communication:

1) Don't reply to someone in all caps; it's equivalent to screaming at them.

One might expect that a line like that could only come from a jealous wife who has had a private detective follow her straying hubby, but soon it may come from your wallet or even your milk carton!

Why would your milk carton care what you did last night? It doesn't, but it could soon "know" that you passed grocery store on way home without picking up a fresh carton of milk. It will simply ask garage door opener which was told by car and then inform your briefcase which will remind your cell phone to alert you tomorrow before you pass market again.

Your checkbook will know your bank balance before you balance it, so you won't need to balance it. Your car will insist that you take it to dealership for maintenance before it reaches mileage limit set by manufacturer for required service to keep warranty intact. The Secretary of State (or Dept. of Motor Vehicles [DMV] in some states) will be able to disable your car if you fail to renew your registration or license.

All of this magic is possible now and in use in some cases.

Your world is very close to being automated, trackable and recorded in a permanent database. Huge abuses are possible in this strange new world and we need to establish boundaries and limit access to this information before it gets out of those databases and into any "unsavory" databases. I'll bet on newest action adventure movies in next few months having something to do with "Arnold" chasing down a good database that was corrupted by an evil data warehousing software developer.

I'm not a doomsayer, so I'll address these issues by suggesting that we all remain aware, informed and alert to possibility of abuses so that we can stop them from occurring.

I am a technology enthusiast so I welcome these developments for what they mean in terms of convenience and in making my life easier. The wireless web, BlueTooth technology, embedded chips, bar codes and information databases make it all easily do-able.

For those of you unfamiliar with BlueTooth technology let me put in its simplest terms (limit of my own understanding) it allows antyhing with this low frequency radio transmission to "talk" with anything else with same embedded technology. This means that inanimate objects can communicate with each other whenever they are within a specific physical proximity to each other.