Accuracy and Timeliness

Privacy threats and technology both move at a dizzying pace. It seems like every week a new privacy law is passed or rejected, or a new court decision is announced that changes how an existing law is interpreted. New threats constantly emerge, as well as new responses to these threats. While I've made every effort to keep this book timely and accurate, some items will surely be out of date by the time you read this.

I am also not an attorney. And while I consulted with many, many attorneys during the writing of this book, it's entirely likely that in my efforts to summarize complex topics I bludgeoned some of the finer legal points. So I'm just going to apologize now and get it over with. Any readers who notice errors of fact or judgment on my part should please contact me at annoyances@oreilly.com. I promise to read every comment and make necessary corrections to future editions of this book.

Conventions Used in This Book

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Menu sequences are separated by arrows, such as Data List Create List. Tabs, radio buttons, buttons , checkboxes, and the like are identified by name —for example, "click the Options tab and check the 'Always show full menus box."

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About the Author

Dan Tynan has been writing and editing stories about technology and its discontents for nearly 20 years . During that time he's been an editor in chief and an executive editor, written for more than 40 publications , and taken home a closet full of awards.

As Executive Editor for PC World , Tynan edited a series of articles on Internet privacy that became a finalist for a National Magazine Award in 1999. (They lost to a Good Housekeeping series on colon cancer featuring Katie Couric.) In 2002, he wrote a feature for Popular Science on the future of airport security, part of a 9/11 anniversary issue that was nominated for Best Single Issue. ( Scientific American won that one.)

Tynan earned consecutive Maggies from the Western Publications Association for his CNET.com column, Inside @ccess. He's won several Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards for investigative journalism and privacy- related articles. He's also shared in awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors, Computer Press Association, and others he can no longer recall.

Tynan has appeared on CNN, CBS, NPR, and a raft of local TV and radio stations , and has been quoted on technology issues in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times . His work has appeared in Cargo , CNET.com, Family Circle , InfoWorld , Men's Fitness , Newsweek , Playboy.com, Wired , and a small flotilla of magazines with "PC" or "Computer" in the title. He currently writes the Gadget Freak column for PC World and TechSmart for Attache magazine.

Yet he remains a humble scribe, working for relative peanuts and the fleeting adoration of the book-buying public.

Everything else about him is private.