Facebook fanatics who have covered their profiles on the popular social networking site with silly games and quirky trivia quizzes may be unknowingly giving a host of strangers an intimate peek at their lives.

Those mini-programs, called widgets or applications, enable users to personalize their pages and connect with friends and acquaintances. But they could pose privacy risks. Some security researchers warn that developers of the software have assembled too much information — home town, schools attended, employment history — and can use the data in ways that could harm or annoy users.

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Many adults put their personal information at risk when they engage in everyday activities, including applying for a loan, requesting information about a product, donating to a political campaign, and even getting married and having a baby, according to ProQuo.

Companies trade and build databases full of personal information, which they then use to market to consumers, says Steve Gal, chief executive of the company. Consumers shouldn’t refrain from those activities (obviously in the case of marriage and children), but rather take extra steps to protect their information, Gal says.

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Exactly one year ago, this column featured a two-parter (Part I, and Part II) on Digital Rights Management (DRM) and managing digital rights; it concluded with the warning that everything was likely to change. A year on, the entire music business has abandoned DRM, and now Microsoft has announced that it will not longer support its own PlaysForSure DRM technology — meaning that if you were one of the poor saps who legitimately bought a music file laden with DRM and it crashes, well, too bad for you.

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Some of you out there can pat yourselves on the back. You’ve been shouting for years on websites, message boards, and blogs that the music industry would one day bow to technology.

That day has most certainly arrived.

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Major entertainment companies are using "digital rights management," or DRM (aka content or copy protection), to lock up your digital media. These DRM technologies do nothing to stop copyright pirates, but instead end up interfering with fans’ lawful use of music, movies, and other copyrighted works.

DRM can prevent you from making back ups of your DVDs and music downloaded from online stores, recording your favorite TV programs, using the portable media player of your choice, remixing clips of movies into your own home movies, and much more.

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NOW spoke with Christopher Soghoian, a Ph.D. student in the School of Informatics at Indiana University and an expert on privacy and cyber-law.

NOW: Why should innocent Americans be worried about the government monitoring their private communications?

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Customer satisfaction with the e-commerce sector hits an all-time high, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), released today by the University of Michigan with e-commerce partner ForeSee Results. E-commerce in aggregate rises to a score of 81.6 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale, a significant 2% jump from 2006. The e-commerce sector now outperforms all other service industries measured by ACSI.

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What is a business systems approach?

A business is more than finance. Performance measures need to be aligned with the organization’s strategy. The business systems approach considers business as  a system of interrelated factors of strategy, owners, investors, management, workers, finance, processes, products, suppliers, customers, and competitors.

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The Internet is a large common space, accessible to everyone around the world. As in any public space, you should take appropriate precautions to protect yourself against fraudulent people and processes. This information will help keep you safe.

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With broadband Internet access for consumers having past the 50% mark within the U.S., online expectations within the e-commerce world have changed dramatically. This trend has also encouraged Web site designers to use far more robust programs and graphics when designing retail websites. A recent survey conducted by Forrester Research reveals that many retailers are revamping Web sites to keep up with the trends, adding such features as rollover lists in navigational areas, strategic product placements and “what’s new” sections.

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