Internet privacy or online privacy consists of privacy over the medium of the Internet which may include web, wap and other such intranets. It is the ability to control the information which one reveals about themselves over the Internet, and also to control who can access, process and use that information. Most of the times internet privacy is used to mean universal online privacy i.e. every connection to the network being able to safeguard its own privacy. Online privacy includes control over handing over of private data with refrence to user activity, location and means of usage of the internet, having required anonymity, and not being profiled for any reasons be it commercial or non-commercial use, misuse or abuse of data.

A persons online privacy details are their, IP addresses that can reveal their geo-location, medium of connection i.e. type of device used, browser used, referring site details. Internet usage statistics which include time spent on certain sites, type of sites visited, browsing preferences and any other such data which can reveal name, age, gender or anything related to the user. These private details can be tracked through cookies, flash cookies (LSO), photographs on internet, ISPs, data logging and more.

In the USA there are special rules set with reference to online internet privacy, most notable in the states - Minnesota, Nevada, California and Utah. California and Utah laws, although not specifically targeted to on-line businesses i.e. retailers and service providers, require all nonfinancial businesses to disclose to customers, in writing or by electronic mail, the types of personal information the business shares with or sells to a third party for direct marketing purposes or for compensation. Under the California law, businesses may post a privacy statement that gives customers the required opportunity to choose not to share information at no cost.

The bigger the site the more hungry it will be to control and bring back the user back to its webages, it will silently log all of the user behavior, which page the user likes, which doesn't. What is hot and what is not and so much more. Sites like Yahoo, Google, Amazon and others have always recorded the user preferences and this is quite apparent from the kind of customized service they provide. Big brands are always conscious of what a consumer or customer feels, even about a free service. All of this results in quite a believable vulnerability. Online browsing is always a vulnerable action, with regard to both - small as well as big websites.