Yet today, following the October 1999 murder of his 20-year-old stepdaughter, Amy Boyer, at the hands of an Internet stalker, Remsburg finds himself in the middle of an evolving, multifaceted national debate over privacy rights and the responsibility of websites to protect personal information.

Remsburg on Wednesday brought the story and his reform message to a Software Association of New Hampshire conference on Internet privacy and security, held in his hometown.

The technology industry hasn't always embraced efforts to curb the free flow of information online. Organizers said Wednesday's event was an attempt at open dialog to get some key issues on the table and discuss privacy protections that could or should be implemented.

Panelists were experts on both sides of the privacy/security debate. The upshot of their predictions: Expect a flurry of new laws and other regulations that limit the intrusion into consumers' private lives in the coming years. And expect renewed efforts on the part of websites to clearly explain to users how they handle personal information and to honor their pledge in the name of good business and coming down on the side of the consumer.

"Self-regulation is an important part of what happens here," said panelist Richard Smith, of the Denver-based Privacy Foundation.

The Boyer case encapsulates some core issues surrounding privacy, personal safety and the Net. Boyer was fatally shot leaving work by a stalker, a former classmate, who paid $45 to a legal online broker for her Social Security number. He used the number to go online and buy her workplace address for $109.

Perhaps more disturbing was what police found after the murder: a website posted by the killer detailing his obsession and his murder plans. (The content is now available on AmyBoyer.org, a site run by Remsburg and his wife, Helen, in their daughter's memory.)

Remsburg says the killer's ability to obtain personal information, and the failure of the website-hosting company to alert Boyer or authorities of an online murder plan, contributed to his stepdaughter's death. He's looking for new laws to make the businesses take responsibility.

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"For two years this information (was) online and nobody ever reported it...And no one has to. No one is responsible for it," Remsburg said.

"I don't blame the Internet for (the murder); I know who killed her. But I know who had a hand" in it, he said.

The killer, he added, was able to stalk Boyer "from the comfort of his bedroom."

Remsburg is fighting on two fronts. A bill inspired by the tragedy and supported by Remsburg is now pending Congress. It would outlaw the sale of Social Security numbers, online or offline, except to law enforcement, banks and credit bureaus. Remsburg is also suing the website hosting company over failing to notify Boyer or authorities of the threats contained on the killer's website.

While not as headline-grabbing or as tragic, panelists noted that Web users face daily breaches of their privacy from websites selling personal information, Web marketers building profiles by tracking Web surfers, spammers who trading e-mail lists, and hackers trying to break into websites to steal credit card information.

Panelists were, among others, Henry Dinger, partner at the Boston law firm of Goodwin, Procter and Hoar; Chris Anne Wheeler of ActivMedia Research, an online market research firm; and Steven Turcich of Netigy, an expert in finding security breaches in corporate websites.

Problems stem from the Internet being an "inherently tracking" medium, said the Privacy Foundation's Smith. He said the privacy issue will continue to dominate as the Internet becomes more a part of everyone's lives and online marketers use technology to focus their sales pitches.

"As we take our lives and put them onto the Internet, we're going to find more and more of our lives being tracked," he said.

Dinger, the Boston attorney, said the Boyer case illustrates why the online privacy issues is such a difficult one to tackle. "In one sense, data of Amy was being used for purposes she didn't know about. The critical issues facing legislators and judges is...To what extent should people have the right to know" what is being done with their personal information?

Some panelists said consumers are often complicit in spreading their personal information. Increasingly, they are willing to gain access to online content by "paying" with their information. The New York Times offers the newspaper online and Yahoo offers free email service, but both require a registration process that gathers personal information.

"We pay for it, but we pay for it with information about us," Dinger said.