Put the dildo down

Have you ever been somewhere embarrassing, like a sex shop, and worried that you might see somebody you know? Well, the chances are that if you do, they'd be just as embarrassed. There's some comfort then in knowing that should they ask, "what are you doing here?" you could just as easily reply, "what are you doing here?"

The Internet being one big sex shop, in which the goods are on display but the customers are not, gives surfers a feeling of anonymity and the confidence, however misguided, that they can peruse, pick up and play in privacy.

But put that dildo down.

Our privacy is this century's Civil Rights but its protection is not yet assured. And, should the ne'er-do-wells in the Bush administration get their way, even our search results will be monitored (I’ll save you the worry, it's annsummers.com).

Whatever it's long term plans (and don't believe everything you read at google-watch.org), Google last week emerged as a sort of Rosa Parks, refusing to give up its seat, or rather its records, to the Bush administration.

So, and I digress, while my IP address, cookies and crumbs can give me away online, last night my web whereabouts were revealed by nothing more scientific than actually bumping into somebody I know somewhere I shouldn’t have been.

Well, I was on match.com, not that there's anything wrong with that, but decided to check out my competition. To do so however I had to search for men, roughly my age in and around my area.

As the results loaded I recognised an old school friend and, in my haste, clicked on his profile. Though mine, and the exercise as a whole, has been mostly tongue in cheek (so far only my tongue in my own cheek), his was very sincere.

And I say in haste, because clicking his profile was with more so than sense. The match.com service being what it is (that is quite impressive) members can see who has viewed their profile.

Not only will I be revealed for using the service – something I'm obviously not too shy about – but seen as searching for men, roughly my age in and around my area.

It's like I’m in the sex shop and I've been caught picking up a dildo.