Protecting information

Is frequent harassment by junk emails or text messages the price individuals must pay in the information era? Such harassment already seems ubiquitous.

When people repeatedly receive text messages or calls on their mobile phones asking whether their houses are for sale, they wonder how such detailed personal information, including address, name, age and even mobile phone number, has fallen into the hands of strangers.

An investigation published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last week reveals appalling abuses of private information by commercial organizations.