QotW6: Privacy

Appreciate While You Have It

Introduction:

As British Sociologist puts it, “citizens in a risk society can no longer rely on tradition or fixed hierarchies to establish their identity or to give them reliable guidance about whom to trust in a society of strangers. Confused and anxious about status in a world where status is constantly shifting, we feel increasing pressure to expose details of our personal lives to strangers in order to win their trust, and we demand that they expose themselves in order to win our trust in return.” (The Naked Crowd, 2004).

So where exactly is the world heading to with the Internet, not forgetting the lack of privacy that comes together with it?

Internet privacy consists of privacy over the media of the Internet: the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet, and to control who can access that information. (Internet Privacy, 2007). Using the Internet can leave a trail of information about one's activity. The reason is that the Internet is a collection of privately and publicly owned servers and computers, all of which being able to save data. Thus, when you enter a search term into the searchbox of any search engine (e.g., Yahoo, Google, even Wikipedia), not only is the search engine capable of returning relevant results to the keyword you entered, it is able to save or retain the fact that the keyword was entered in the first instance. (Privacy, 2007).

After all, how private is the Internet?

As mentioned earlier, privacy refers to the degree of control that you have concerning who can access your personal information, and whether and how they may use it. Most email and Internet users assume that personal information will not be used without permission and that information exchanges are private and secure. The reality is very different. Every time you access a website or send email, you leave information about yourself that could include your physical, and computer address, telephone and credit card numbers, consumer pattern data and much more. If you use the Internet or email without taking safety measures you have probably given up your right to privacy. (Council of Europe, 2007).

Risks to Internet privacy:

Those concerned about Internet privacy often cite a number of privacy risks — events that can compromise privacy — which one may encounter through Internet use.

Cookies

HTTP cookies, sometimes known as web cookies or just cookies, are parcels of text sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. HTTP cookies are used for authenticating, tracking, and maintaining specific information about users, such as site preferences and the contents of their electronic shoppin carts. Cookies have been of concern for Internet privacy, since they can be used for tracking browsing behavior. While cookies are only sent to the server setting them or one in the same Internet domain, a Web page may contain images or other components stored on servers in other domains. Cookies that are set during retrieval of these components are called third-party cookies. (HTTP Cookies, 2007).

Data logging

Many programs and operating systems are set up to perform data logging of usage. This may include recording times when the computer is in use, or which web sites are visited. If a third party has sufficient access to the computer, legitimately or not, this may be used to lessen the user's privacy. This could be avoided by disabling logging, or clearing logs regularly. (Internet Privacy, 2007).

Conclusion:

One way of understanding privacy is not whether we choose to expose personal information in public - we all do at different times and places - but the ease with which we can return to being private. (The Naked Crowd, 2004). As Sullivan (2006) says, people may think that their cell phone is unlisted, but if they have ever ordered a pizza, it might not be. Merlin is one of many commercial data brokers that advertises sale of unlisted phone numbers compiled from various sources -- including pizza delivery companies.

Nothing on the Internet or even in the world comes for free. We are always engulfed in “the lack of privacy” bubble whether it be at home or in school. Personally, I feel that further improvement in technology will only serve to complicate our “ability to negotiate the boundary between public and private, making it hard to recover a private self that has been voluntarily exposed.” (The Naked Crowd, 2004).

References:

1. Jeffrey, R., “The Naked Crowd” (July 19, 2004) From Spiked Essays. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

2. Sullivan, Bob., “Privacy Lost: Does anybody care?” (October 17, 2006) From MSNBC.com. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

3. “How Private Is The Internet?” (January 10, 2007) From Council Of Europe. Retrieved March 9, 2007 from http://www.coe.int/t/e/integrated_projects/democracy/02_activities/03_internet_literacy/internet_literacy_handbook/16_privacy.asp

4. “Privacy” (March 9, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 20:15, January 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy#Internet_privacy

5. “Internet Privacy” (March 8, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 20:21, January 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_privacy

6. “HTTP cookie” (March 7, 2007) From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved 21:31, January 9, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie