While seeking to renew my passport, I mistakenly opened a web site not rated green by Norton, but that was probably not the worst of it. As best I can tell, my machine was not infected by any nasty code, but until I returned to site and deleted my data, the site had access to personal information such as date of birth. The sites graphics suggests that it is part of official process to help you renew passport. Once you fill out the data, it asks for ~$38 to turn that data into a printable .pdf file that you can print and submit to the US Government along with your $100+ passport application fee. What concerned me was that I inadvertently gave personal information to a site whose privacy policies I failed to review. Norton would be helpful to the community if, when characterizing sites, the site would be rated for personal data safety as well as computer safety. My case was special in that I was unusually trusting because I thought I had logged into a US Government site, but there are issues with all the sites on the Internet that are selling things. I trust Amazon.com not to flood my e-mail address with undesired solicitations, but can I trust the other small companies that are offering products on the Internet.
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