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On the web, the rule is: if you're not paying, then you are what's being sold.

Probably the simplest way to reduce personalisation is to use an anonymising service. Instead of accessing the web directly, you access it via a third-party proxy server, so your that requests are mixed in with thousands of others. These services usually allow you to control cookies, turn JavaScript on and off, withhold "referrer details" and so on.

Nonetheless, it's often useful to have access to an anonymous proxy service, and everybody should find one they like. Examples include The Cloak, Megaproxy, Proxify and ID Zap. There are also networked open source privacy systems such as Tor and I2P.

Google also tracks your progress across hundreds of thousands of websites via Google Analytics. To opt out of this, install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (Beta), which Google offers for Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera. However, some sites use different analytics software or track visitors in other ways you will be unaware of. Ghostery may help reduce these.

Finally, Facebook Connect is a potential privacy problem because it "allows users to 'connect' their Facebook identity, friends and privacy to any site".

In general, the more you do online – social networking, cloud computing etc – the more your privacy and security are at risk. Reducing that risk involves effort and inconvenience, so it's up to you to find an acceptable compromise

"Rather than relying on life experiences, educational travel and face to face interaction with others, children are becoming obsessed with social networking and this is shaping their attitudes instead.

The report concludes that the children with the poorest grades at school are the ones who spent most time on social networking.

Seven in 10 British teachers believe children are becoming more and more obsessed with websites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Half of the 500 teachers polled believe this fixation is affecting the children's ability to concentrate in class.

'They enjoy using this tool but there is a danger that these virtual interactions filter out problematic or emotional issues, which in real life, support social and emotional development. ''Social networking has become so much the norm, for adults and children alike, that non-participation can result in feeling excluded or even socially ostracised. ''The time invested in social media versus real life interpersonal interaction can detract from that available for real human contact and contribute to delayed and/or distorted social and emotional development.''

It is also claimed that children who are online at every available opportunity are less willing to communicate with adults.

''Currently there is little empirical research and related guidance on how to integrate social media into school-based learning, although I am aware that many teachers are grappling with this challenge in their day to day practice and some are managing to use this new media very constructively.

The prediction of Web 2.0's demise was made by Christopher Mims, a technology commentator who writes for the MIT journal Technology Review. He started by typing Web 2.0 into Google Trends search engine

As it happens, Web 2.0 does mean something, even though the definition gets a bit fuzzy round the edges. It first appeared in 1999

if the internet itself was the platform on which Web 1.0 – the first version of the Web as a simple publication system – was built, then Web 2.0 was the platform on which new, innovative  applications could be built.

Online mapping systems

Image-hosting services

social networking services such as MySpace, Orkut, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Cloud computing

So one way of looking at Web 2.0 is simply to say that it's "the web done properly"

The big question, of course, is what will Web 3.0 be like? And the answer, I suppose, is that if we knew that then we wouldn't be here.