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The Importance of Privacy
Since its invention the internet has been a great tool to obtain and share information. The internet hasn’t only been used to share public information, but also to share the personal and private details of your life. The internet is also being used by governments and corporations to get information about you. The most devastating is the fact that crackers and cons are notorious for using the internet to eavesdrop on your personal communications, and for steal your personal private information for use in identity theft. Privacy should be important to online users because of the risks associated with different people, governments, and organizations obtaining your personal information
In a E-commerce Times online news story titled “DoubleClick Sued for Online Privacy Invasion” dated January 28, 2000 the author Rob Conlin tells what happens when consumers like Harriet Judnick and other citizens of California found that the online advertising company DoubleClick was caught stealing personal information from unaware web users(p.2). Conlin states that the plaintiffs (Judnick and the other California citizens) filed a complaint and asked for an order that would force DoubleClick to stop collecting and selling personal information without the consent of web users.(p. 2)
Two computer companies that put P.C users’ privacy at risk are Microsoft and Intel. An InfoWorld article titled “Feel more secure yet?” by Brian Livingston says “60 patches were released for all Microsoft products in 2001 alone.”(p.1) Microsoft’s own security bulletin board revealed 64 patches released this year, most deal with security holes that allow the computer savvy (hackers) to get inside your P.C (pp.1-13).In 1998 Intel released a processor that automatically sent a uniquely identifiable serial number to each of website the person using the processor would visit; computer privacy advocates were quick to note the problem (p. 1). A World News Digest article titled “Computers: Privacy Concerns Spur Changes; Other Development” dated April 15, 1999, stated “Intel Corp.. said that it would change a planned feature of its new Pentium III microprocessor chip, in response to complaints made by privacy advocates” (p. 1). Another privacy concern that everyday online users should be concerned with is post 9/11 legislation that’s designed as tool for law enforcement but has the potential to be used against any American citizen without reason or motive. The Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002' was passed into law by congress on 11/19/02 attached to the Homeland Security Act of 2002. (p. 51) The 13 pages of the C.S.E.A portion of the act have been summarized by Declan McCullagh of News.com for MSNBC.com in the story title “Bill Could Jail Hackers for Life” dated Nov. 13 2002. For the stated purposes of this thesis only one of McCullagh’s points applies:[The new act] Permit[s] limited surveillance without a court order when there is an ‘ongoing attack’ on an Internet-connected computer or ‘an immediate threat to a national security interest.’ That kind of surveillance would, however, be limited to obtaining a suspect’s telephone number, IP address, URLs or e-mail header information—not the contents of online communications or telephone calls. Under federal law, such taps can take place when there’s a threat of serious bodily injury to any person’ or activity involving organized crime. (p.4)
Many government surveillance systems have been created to combat the threat of terrorism, although current law prevent these systems from being abused agents Americans, many government officials believe older privacy laws need to amended to better protect the “Home Land” such changed would make our rights to privacy no longer a right. A writer for the New York Times John Markoff wrote an online article that has some scary new insight into the governments’ upcoming intelligence gathering capability. In Markoff’s article he describes a broad new system of super computers being developed by the government under Vice Adm. John Poindexter (p. 1). According to Markoff “…the system would provide intelligence analysts and law enforcement with instant access to information from e-mail and calling records to credit card, banking transactions and travel records - without a search warrant.”(p. 1) Markoff also says that this system can not yet be implemented because of obvious violations of the Privacy Act of 1974, which he says prevents the government from spying on U.S citizens, according to the same article Poindexter plans on having new legislation passed which amends such acts (p.1). Another surveillance system that is used by the National Security Agency (N.S.A) for spying on other countries called SIGINT or Signal intelligence has according to joint inquiry of the Senate Select committee on intelligence and the House permanent select committee on intelligence (17, October 2002) been recommended in not so many words for use domestically by Lt. General Michael V. Hayden, USAF (The Director of the N.S.A)(p. 1). In Hayden’s statement he said “When I spoke with our workforce shortly after the September 11th attacks, I told them that free people always had to decide where to draw the line between their liberty and their security, and I noted that the attacks would almost certainly push us as a nation more toward security.”(p. 11)
The final privacy concern online users need be concerned with has to do with hackers and con artists stealing your identity. According to the Equifax credit agency’s online guide, “They [Identify thieves] use personal information you share on the Internet” to steal your identity (p. 2). Equifax’s guide continues by illustrating what identify thieves can do with your identity.They open a new credit card account, using your name, date of birth, and Social Security number. When they use the credit card and don't pay the bills, the delinquent account is reported on your credit report. They call your credit card issuer and, pretending to be you, change the mailing address on your credit card account. Then, your imposter runs up charges on your account. Because your bills are being sent to the new address, you may not immediately realize there's a problem. They establish cellular phone service in your name. They open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account. They file for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying debts they've incurred under your name, or to avoid eviction. They counterfeit checks or debit cards, and drain your bank account. They buy cars by taking out auto loans in your name. (p. 2) An ex-con and former hacker Kevin Mitnick has written a book with William Simon titled “THE ART OF DECEPTION” in which Mitnick writes, “Everybody’s first priority at work is to get the job done. Under that pressure, security practices often take second place and are overlooked or ignored. Social engineers [cons] rely on this when practicing their art” (p. 72). The authors go on to say that your should “Never cooperate with a stranger who asks you to lookup information, enter unfamiliar commands into a computer, make changes to software settings or –the most potentially disastrous of all—open an email attachment…” (p. 73) Near their end of their book, the authors recommend that you only distribute private information to trusted parties. (p.275)
Why should online privacy be a major concern of every person that’s ever used the internet? First, corporations like DoubleClick use your private information to spy on what you like and what you dislike to better market their products to you, a fact that most online users don’t know. Second, parts of the government like the National Security Agency, and Central Intelligence Agency use your private information to snoop on you and make sure that you never have and never will do anything wrong. And third, hackers and cons use your private and personal information to invade your life, at times transforming their digital selves into you; they do this by stealing the information that makes up your identity, by them doing this they can wreck havoc on your real life. Privacy should be important to online users because of the risks associated with different people, governments and organizations obtaining your personal information.
REFERENCES
Conlin, R. (2000, January 28). DoubleClick Sued for Online Privacy Invasion. ECommerce Times (online ed.), 1. Retrieved November 11, 2002, from the E-Commerce Times website.
Livingston, B. (2002, April 26). Feel more secure yet? InfoWorld, 1.Retrieved December 3, 2002 from http://staging.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/02/04/29/020429opwinman.xml?Template=/st orypages/printfriendly.html
Microsoft Hot Fix & Security Bulletin Service (2002, November). Retrieved December 3, 2000 from http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/current.asp
Computers: Privacy Concerns Spur Changes; Other Development.(1999, April 15).World News Digest 1. Retrieved from Issues and Controversies online database.
H.R.5005. (2002) Homeland Security Act of 2002. Retrieved December 2, 2002 from THOMAS Library of Congress. Service website: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c107:8:./temp/~c107gsvMxs::
McCullagh, D. (2002, November 13). Bill could jail hackers for life. MSNBC News (Online ed), 2. Retrieved December 2, 2002, from the MSNBC website.
MARKOFF, J. (2002, November 9). Pentagon Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans. New York Times (Online ed), 1. Retrieved December, 2 2002, from cryptome.org
Lt. Gen Hayden.(2002, October, 13) Joint inquiry of the Senate Select committee on intelligence and the House permanent select committee on intelligence. Retrieved December 2, 2002 from U.S Senate Select Committee on Intelligence website: http://intelligence.senate.gov/0210hrg/021017/hayden.pdf
Equifax Credit Report Guide. (2002). Identity Theft. Retrieved December 2, 2002 from http://www.equifaxguide.com/consumer/identity-theft.htm
Mitnick, K., Simon, W. (2002). The Art of Deception, Controlling the Human Element of Security. Indianapolis, Indiana: Ipsen
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