The rating is based on whether the site contacted the user or shared user information with third parties and breaks down as follows:

**** Contact with permission
Never shared personally identifiable information with third parties, nor used such data to contact a user without permission.

*** Share with permission
Found to contact users and share personally identifiable information with third parties only with the user's explicit permission.

** Contact without permission
Found to contact users without permission, but only shared data with permission.

* Share without permission
Shared data without permission

Zero No privacy policy
Sites that did not have a stated policy.

The study found that of the 29,260 unique URL's surveyed, 1,027 sites, or 3.51%, qualified for a four star rating; 799 sites, or 2.73% qualified for a three star ratings; 2580 sites, or 8.82% qualified for a two star rating; 2580 or 7.69% qualified for 1 star, and; 22603 or 77.25% did not post a privacy policy.

However, of the top 1,000 most visited sites 8.6%, qualified for the highest rating. In addition, 630 of the top 1000 sites post some kind of policy, a major improvement from over the paltry two percent the industry offered two years ago.

A one star rating is not considered a ''bad'' rating. In fact, one star indicates the site has a privacy posted and ''is acting above the requirements of U.S. federal law.''

''This study shows that the market is responding to consumer concerns, and that government regulations at this point in time are both unnecessary and premature,'' said Pacific Research Institute director Sonia Arrison in a statement.

Download the full study

http://www.enonymous.com/default2.asp

"We are creating an exemption for a potential threat that is going to become one of the national security issues of our time," Marin said. Information pertaining to how the attack was done and what was done to fix the attack, will fall under the exemption.

The Bill will also grant limited immunity from the antitrust charge of collusion for companies that share hacking information with their competitors.

The Bush campaign has relied on the Internet throughout his run for the White House. He was the first to publish a list of all donors to his campaign on his Internet site. In addition, he has broadcast live interviews on his web site from around the country.

The Yahoo! banner will read: ''How much will the Bush tax cut save you? Find out here. Check out our innovative tax calculator.'' The ''Tax Calculator'' will allow a taxpayer to answer some questions and determine how much they would save if the Bush tax plan were implemented.

==>Winston Churchill