The privacy of users of the Internet and interactive television is protected by actuating a ‘privacy button” on the computer of the end user to cause the computer to search the user's computer to identify all cookies designed to track the user's computer behavior; disable each of the cookies identified by the search; identify the source of each of the disabled cookies; create, carry and forward a message to the identified cookie source that the end user does not want to have his computer behavior observed and/or to receive any advertising until further notice; create, carry and forward a message to the end user's Internet service provider that the end user does not want to receive any advertising and/or that computer observation activity is to be suspended by the Internet service provider until further notice; search the computer memory to identify all websites visited by the end user on the computer during a given time period; and create, carry and forward a message to each website identified in the search that the end user does not want to have his computer behavior observed and/or to receive any advertising until further notice.