Banks Biography

Michael Banks is the author of 37 novels and non-fiction books, and more than 2,000 magazine articles and short stories. A full-time freelance writer and editor since 1983, Banks has served as a Contributing Editor for such publications as Windows Magazine and Computer Shopper. He began writing about computing for Popular Computing in 1981, and written for most major computer magazines since then.

Banks says his interest in online privacy and security dates back to the early 1980s, when he discovered that anyone could get the names and home telephone numbers of BBS callers. As online services and the Internet evolved, he made it a point to keep tabs on the growing quantities of personal information online. As a sysop on several online services, he acquired a number of techniques with which he was able to track and identify almost anyone online. With the advent of the World Wide Web, Banks expanded his knowledge of online information-gathering, much of which he shares with readers in "Web Psychos, Stalkers, and Pranksters."