Privacy

This lecture was produced several years ago by Kathy Hansen, a CIS instructor here at Shasta College. Most of what she says is still accurate . . . any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

We worry about our privacy because of computers and all the big databases.  Actually this problem was with us before the Internet, where we are always showing up on another bunch of new databases every time we register online.  It is just that computers have compounded the problem because databases are so easy to handle on computers.  Even before, if you bought something at a department store or just from a newspaper ad you would end up getting a lot of junk mail because someone sold your name to a database.  You could tell from just where it originated (all having the same misspelled first name or the funny initial you had added).  And how do your feel about someone getting money for selling your name?  

Do you think your name and address is on a few databases?  Believe me, it is on more than a few.  Every move we make seems to place us on more databases.  The little clip art above gives you an idea of how everything you do links you to something else.  

When the government made a request to make one big central government-related database, it was denied.  However, the agencies are allowed to access each other’s databases for information.  This is a trade-off.  For a loss of some our privacy, our government save millions in fraud by being able to cross-check information.  

Don’t say anything in your email that you don’t want repeated.  There are no government laws to protect your email as there are for the U. S. Mail.  So it isn’t against the law for people to snoop into your email.  Even an employer has a right to read your email at work.  So far there is no law against it.  

The article I am holding in my hand right now states “From the moment you connect to the Net, you are leaking information to the world about who you are, what you do, and what you’re interested in.  As private a pastime as surfing the Internet might seem, it’s not.  The computers that make up the Net monitor and often record everything you do while online.”  The article goes on to talk about cyber snoops and cookies, and the fact that anyone with a sense of logic can build a quick and accurate profile of you.  I lack the logic myself.  I would expect it to at least take one of those brainy computer nerds. 

I guess I am not paranoid enough.  I can’t imagine anyone being interested enough in my meanderings on the net to bother to track and record EVERYTHING I DO.  Who in the world has the time for that, and if they do, they will surely be bored; what I do, could only truly interest me.  Of course we know all web sites get information from us when we register.  And they are interested in us because they want to sell products to us.  That doesn’t bother me.  I’m not going to buy anything I don’t want. 

Some sites that we go to claim to be a secure site (shown by the lock that is either open or closed on the bottom of their screen).  No one should be able to access your information here except the organization you are dealing with.  

Other sites that we visit send cookies back to our computer with us.  The cookie is stored right there on your hard drive; you can even see them or delete them.  The next time you visit that site, it checks to see whether you have any of their cookies and uses that data to customize itself for you.  Now you may resent this intrusion.  If you do, your browser (if it is a new enough version) gives you control over whether or not sites can create cookies on your PC.  Go to the Protocol tab under Options for Netscape.  For Internet Explorer, try the Advanced tab under View Options.  Sometimes it’s not all bad to have your searches already half done for you when you enter a site since they already know what your preferences are.  Most of the articles I’ve read on cookies, recently, seem to think they are fairly harmless and sometimes helpful. 

I previously suggested a way to be anonymous on your email if you didn’t want to be harassed.  If you want to be anonymous as you surf the web, you can use the anonymizer.  Instructions are available at the Anonymizer web site—http://www.anonymizer.com.  

We can also keep our messages confidential through encryption.  Most of the time we don’t bother, but big businesses do.  As the offices communicate and send information back and forth by computer, it is very important to some businesses not to have their trade secrets stolen.  The most used encryption is DES—Data Encryption Standard.  DES uses an eight-digit key to scramble communications that it would take 1,142 years for a speedy computer to decipher if they didn’t have the key (or so they say).  

The NSA (National Security Agency) wanted the standard business/government encryption to be the Clipper Chip (cute!) to which they would have the key in order to prevent sabotage.  Sort of a back-door key to your home or business for law enforcement.  How do you feel about that?  Good or bad?