Now if you've joined an affiliate program through any of major affiliate tracking companies, you have probably even put these bugs on your own pages without knowing what you've done. They come in HTML code you are given to paste into your page by Commission Junction or LinkShare or BeFree networks and LinkExchange to track your visitors so you can be paid your affiliate commissions.

You'll see on link code something like this

This is actually WebSite101 code for our affiliate link to eHealthInsurance.com and is required by their affiliate program. This is a "good" use of web bugs to track commission payments to affiliates. It allows host to track exactly what web page was visited by surfer and when so that affiliate links can be tracked from their source.

The information collected can be sold to third parties -- usually ad agencies and marketers -- or kept by site owners themselves for use in creating a profile of your preferences and tastes.

You might think if you've never filled out a form or even given out your e-mail address they have nothing on you. Think again. Information can be gathered about you every time you log onto Net. Certain types of information can be learned about you "invisibly" that you're not even aware of such as:

1) Your IP Address (the address given to your PC by your ISP whenever you log on).

2) The type of PC you have

3) The Browser you are using

4) Operating System you're running

5) Domain Registered Name

With more and more sites gathering information it's more important than ever to implement your own privacy policy and to be aware of others' policies when giving them your information.

A privacy policy is a statement or article that spells out what you do with any personal data collected by your website. Although not mandatory it is a good idea to implement one on your site if you collect any kind of personal data from visitors to your website. A privacy policy also will make your site guests feel more comfortable sharing their information with you, knowing you won't sell it to highest bidder.

So what components make up a privacy policy?

1) Clearly state what information you are collecting and if you share it with any third parties.

2) Give a way for site visitors to change any information given now, at a later date.

3) Clearly state how you are storing collected information.

4) Information on how to opt out of any future mailings from your company.

5) If your site uses cookies this must be disclosed.

Use simple wording in your policy instead of high tech language, and don't collect any information that you really don't need. It's important to keep up on any new laws regarding privacy policies in case you need to modify it later on.