Here’s what to expect.

1. Because of partisan bickering, don’t expect a major overhaul of U.S. Internet privacy laws to be passed in this Congress. There will be a lot of holier-than-thou pronouncements by politicians (smoke but no fire).

2. Due to abuses of private information by a few websites, there’s a good chance that additional privacy laws will be passed in 2009 or 2010.

3. Major Internet sites (companies with teams of in-house lawyers) will try to structure the new legislation in such a way as to prevent competition by smaller Internet marketers. This will be spun by public relations departments as the companies’ efforts to protect consumers while totally ignoring the underlying anti-competitive agenda.

4. Assume that any legislation Congress considers to protect your privacy will in fact be ineffective, burdensome for entrepreneurs, and will not do a damn thing to actually prevent others from using your personal information.

Remember that most of the information online that you want to protect is already covered by existing laws. Someone misuses your credit card number? They can already be pursued under numerous federal and state statutes.

This raises many interesting legal issues but reinforces the fact that you should never put in email anything that you don’t want third parties to read. Assume the worst will happen. “Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead,” quipped Benjamin Franklin. Consider this when writing your next e-mail. Even if the recipient doesn’t share what you wrote with someone else (and chances are that he will), your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or email provider may be gutting your privacy rights behind your back by giving copies to the government or even someone interested in suing you.

What’s the lesson for your online business?

If you make representations about your products or services, you better stand by those representations. And if your website’s privacy policy states X is true, you should make sure that it is in fact true.

As for Hushmail, it will be interesting to see if the company gets sued.

Hat tip to Iaian Thomson at ITNews for this email privacy story.

Be sure to check out the podcast for this post.

Of course, GIGO (garbage in garbage out) applies. If the underlying data is false, the profile isn’t helpful. This is particularly true when someone maliciously posts a bad profile for you on a social networking site.

I took preemptive action and created my own profile on Spock.com. I’d rather have the data be accurate. Of course, some discretion is involved. Because of identity theft concerns, for instance, I did not provide vital information such as date of birth.

And of course, you should be careful about what you post online. If your hobby is surfing the Internet while at work, chances are that your current or prospective employer won’t be too pleased to read about it online. Content on the web tends to have a life of its own…particularly if it is embarrassing.