One of the most complex, tangled, and emotionally charged issues regarding the Internet these days is security -- How safe is data that can be reached through the Web? Can it be made tamper-proof? Can private information be kept private? While the linking of databases and ease of use of the Web suggest not, a wave of recent books discuss these issues, and call for informed decisions by legislators and Netizens in making the Internet safe for democracy.

For years, government and large credit firms collected masses of personal data for their own purposes. The use of the data was easily controlled, because the information all went in one direction: to the agencies. According to Simson Garfinkel, Wired contributor and author (with Gene Spafford) of Web Security &Commerce: Risks, Technologies, and Strategies, $32.95, June O'Reilly &Associates, the two-way nature of the Web makes it inherently different from other forms of publishing. "As the Internet makes it possible for web servers to publish information to millions of users," he writes, "it also makes it possible for computer hackers, crackers, criminals, vandals, and other 'bad guys' to break into the very computers on which the web servers are running."

This fact, combined with the Web's increasing use as a forum for corporate information distribution and business transactions, and the money transfer that implies, makes the Internet a very attractive target. Web Security discusses various payment methods, including credit cards and virtual cash, tells how to judge security risks, and evaluates methods of encryption.

Commerce, Regulate Thyself

Three weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission held hearings to determine the extent of danger to trade posed by weak Net security, and to determine what, if any, steps to take. Carole A. Lane, who wrote Naked in Cyberspace, just released at $29.95 from the Online, Inc. imprint of Pemberton Press, appeared on three panels before the FTC, discussing issues of linked databases and invasion and preservation of privacy.

"The FTC wants these database vendors to regulate themselves, and most of the large companies have complied," Lane says. "The large companies have a lot of proprietary information that consumers have given to them. They can keep mailing lists separate from the detailed personal profiles that yield the most information, which protects their products'value."

"The problem is that smaller companies that repackage public records as the base of their income can't limit their use: because the records are public, others will inevitably get them, and will undermine the company' product."

Naked in Cyberspace points out that merely shutting down access to all personal information files not only isn't the solution, it may be counterproductive. According to Lane, who worked for the TRW credit agency for several years, "This information is held in so many places, and can be retrieved by professionals in so many ways, that it's important for people to know how to get to the sources of information to protect themselves."

The book gives instructions on how to find information on credit histories, criminal justice records, medical and insurance records, genealogy and much more. "I'm glad these things are being discussed in public. People need to know that there are records of personal information out there, that people and organizations can get hold of them. This information can affect their employment and credit ratings, whether through misuse or error. But I want to show people how to get hold of their own records and how to fix the errors."

Other technical how-to titles include Secure Computing: Threats and Safeguards, by Rita C. Summers, from Computing McGraw-Hill; John Wiley's Java Security: Hostile Applets, Holes, and Antidotes, by Gary McGraw and Edward Felten, $19.95; and Hacker Proof: the Ultimate Guide to Network Security, by Edward J. Renehan, Jr., $54.95 from Jamsa Press and NetSpy: How You Can Access the Facts and Cover Your Tracks, $12.95 from Wolff New Media, foreword by Steve Levy, P.I., which made it into Ingram's top 75 computer titles in early June. Hacker Proof, though just out, has already climbed to number 13 on Ingram's list of communicationsand network-related titles for the week of June 13.

General descriptive titles available now or coming soon include The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier, by Bruce Sterling, from Bantam Books and Cyberwars: Espionage on the Internet by Jean Guisnel, $26.95 due in cloth this summer from Plenum.

At the less-well-lit end of the street, the psychology of hackers is covered in Web Psychos, Stalkers and Pranksters, by Michael A. Banks $24.99 from Coriolis Group, and Secrets of a Super Hacker, by the Knightmare, from Loompanics Unlimited. Secrets was listed as high as number 6 on Ingram's top 50 general computer titles for the week of June 13. Steal This Computer Book: What They Won't Tell You About the Internet, by Wallace Wang, $16.95, is scheduled for August release from No Starch Press, distributed by Publishers Group West.