Unfairness & Deception

Education & Guidance

Privacy

Protecting Personal Information: A Guide for Business
[PDF]
Practical tips for business on creating and implementing a plan for safeguarding personal information.

Privacy: Tips for Protecting Your Personal Information
[PDF]
Suggests ways to keep your personal information secure, whether your transactions are online or off.

Privacy: What You Do Know Can Protect You
[PDF]
Provides contact information for organizations that can help consumers control how their personal information is shared.

Is Someone "Phishing" for Your Information?
[PDF]
Cautions consumers about emails that claim to be from government agencies in an attempt to steal personal information.

How Not to Get Hooked by a 'Phishing' Scam
[PDF]

Student Surveys: Ask Yourself Some Questions
[PDF]
Offers recommendations to school administrators for evaluating whether student surveys will be used for strictly educational purposes or for other uses, such as for commercial marketing.

Sharing Your Personal Information: It's Your Choice

Security

Consumer Information Security Website
Offers information security tips for computer users, from kids to businesspeople, along with links to other resources.

OnGuard Online Website
This link will take you from the FTC's website to OnGuardOnline.gov. OnGuard Online -- a partnership between the FTC, other federal agencies, and the technology industry -- offers tips to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.

Securing Your Wireless Network
[PDF]
Helps computer users secure their wireless networks, at home or for their small business.

Detect, Protect, Dis-infect: Consumers Online Face Wide Choices in Security Products
[PDF]

Financial Institutions and Customer Data: Complying with the Safeguards Rule
[PDF]
Explains the scope of the FTC’s Safeguards Rule, which requires financial institutions to protect the consumer information they collect, and offers tips for compliance.

Securing Your Server - Shut the Door on Spam
[PDF]
Helps server operators close "open relay" and "open proxy" servers to minimize the risk of abuse by spammers.

Security Check: Reducing Risks to Your Computer Systems
[PDF]
Describes basic steps for businesses' information security planning and provides links to resources to help prioritize among vulnerabilities.

P2P File-Sharing: Evaluating the Risks
[PDF]

Explains the risks associated with file-sharing and provides tips for securing the personal information stored on your computer to minimize these risks.

Telemarketing

Do Not Call Web Site
Provides information for consumers and telemarketers about the National Do Not Call Registry and how to avoid telemarketing scams.

You Make the Call: The FTC's New Telemarketing Sales Rule
Discusses the National Do Not Call Registry and the Telemarketing Sales Rule. 

E-Commerce & the Internet

Botnets and Hackers and Spam (Oh, My!)
[PDF]
Explains botnets and the steps consumers can take to avoid having their computer invaded by hackers and spammers.

Site-Seeing on the Internet: A Consumer’s Guide to Travel in Cyberspace
To help you prepare for your voyage online and avoid fraud and deception en route. Includes a glossary of commonly used Internet terms.

Spam Web Site
Offers information for consumers about types of unsolicited commercial email, how spammers get email addresses, and ways to limit the amount of spam you receive; contains information for marketers about responding to consumers’ unsubscribe requests.

A Consumer’s Guide to E-Payments
[PDF]
Describes new online payment technologies and how to make your transactions as secure as possible.

Going Shopping? Go Global! A Guide for E-Consumers
[PDF]
Shopping electronically, especially when you're dealing with vendors in other countries, opens up a whole world of questions.

CyberSmart! K-8 Curriculum
Helps children learn about safe and responsible computing.

Identity Theft

Identity Theft Web Site
Helps consumers avoid and respond to identity theft; offers the Identity Theft Affidavit and an online complaint form.