Ethics in Information

Technology, Second Edition

Chapter 4
Privacy
 The Impact of Computer Technology
• Medical and financial information, details of
purchases, and evidence of romantic affairs can all be
found by going through someone’s garbage.
• Before the digital age, surveillance cameras watched
shoppers in stores and employees at work.
• Computer technology has had a profound impact on
what information is collected about us (sometimes
without our permission or knowledge), who has to
access it and how they use it.
• Computer technology allows search surveillance of
huge numbers of people, often without our
knowledge.
• Privacy is probably the “computer issue” that worries
people most.
 Privacy Protection and the Law

• Systems collect and store key data from every interaction

with customers
• Many object to data collection policies of government and
business
• Privacy
– Key concern of Internet users
– Top reason why nonusers still avoid the Internet
• Reasonable limits must be set to access personal information,
new information and communication technologies that is
designed to protect rather than diminish privacy.
• Historical perspective on the right to privacy
– Fourth Amendment - reasonable expectation of privacy
– Recite the Fourth Amendment
The Fourth Amendment

• The right of the people to be secure in their

persons, houses, papers, and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but
upon probable cause, supported by Oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or
things to be seized.
 The Right of Privacy

• Definition
– “The right to be left alone—the most comprehensive of
rights, and the right most valued by a free people”
– “The right of individuals to control the collection and use of
information about themselves”
The Right of Privacy

• Legal aspects
– Protection from unreasonable intrusion upon one’s
isolation
– Protection from appropriation of one’s name or
likeness
– Protection from unreasonable publicity given to
one’s private life
– Protection from publicity that unreasonably places
one in a false light before the public
The Right of Privacy

Privacy is a human value consisting of four

rights:
• Solitude
- The right to be alone without disturbances
• Anonymity
- The right to have no personal identity in public
• Intimacy
- The right to do something privately
• Reserve
- The right to control personal information about oneself.
Recent History of Privacy
Protection
• Legislative acts passed over the past 40 years
– Most address invasion of privacy by the
government
• Not corporations
– No single, overarching national data privacy policy
– Communications Act of 1934
– Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
– Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970
– Privacy Act of 1974
– Children’s Online Protection Act (COPA)
– European Community Directive 95/46/EC of 1998
– Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
 Recent History of Privacy
Protection (continued)
• Other initiatives
– BBB Online and TRUSTe
• Independent, nonprofit initiatives
• Favor an industry-regulated approach to data privacy
• Study all the legislative acts pass over the
years(109-117). Be ready for a quiz on friday
Recent History of Privacy
Protection (continued)
• Opt-out policy
– Assumes that consumers approve of companies
collecting and storing their personal information
– Requires consumers to actively opt out
– Favored by data collectors
• Opt-in policy
– Must obtain specific permission from consumers
before collecting any data
– Favored by consumers
Summary of the 1980 OECD
Privacy Guidelines
Legal Overview: The Privacy Act

• Secure Flight airline safety program

– Compares the names and information of 1.4
million daily U.S. airline passengers with data on
known or suspected terrorists
– Violation of Privacy Act
Key Privacy and Anonymity Issues

• Government electronic surveillance

• Data encryption
• Identity theft
• Customer profiling
• Need to treat customer data responsibly
• Workplace monitoring
• Spamming
• Advanced surveillance techniques
Governmental Electronic
Surveillance (see video)
• Federal Wiretap Act
– Outlines processes to obtain court authorization
for surveillance of all kinds of electronic
communications
– Judge must issue a court order based on probable
cause
• Almost never deny government requests
– “Roving tap” authority
• Does not name specific telephone lines or e-mail
accounts
• All accounts are tied to a specific person
Governmental Electronic
Surveillance (continued)
• Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978
(FISA)
– Allows wiretapping of aliens and citizens in the
United States
– Based on finding of probable cause that a target is
• Member of a foreign terrorist group
• Agent of a foreign power
• Executive Order 12333
– Legal authority for electronic surveillance outside
the United States
Governmental Electronic
Surveillance (continued)
• Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act (CALEA)
– Requires the telecommunications industry to build
tools into its products so that federal investigators
can eavesdrop on conversations
• After getting court approval
– Contains a provision covering radio-based data
communication
– Includes voice over Internet (VoIP) technology
Data Encryption

• Cryptography
– Science of encoding messages
– Only sender and intended receiver can understand
the messages
– Key tool for ensuring confidentiality, integrity,
authenticity of electronic messages and online
business transactions
• Encryption
– Process of converting electronic messages into a
form understood only by the intended recipients
Data Encryption (continued)

• Encryption key
– Variable value applied using an algorithm to
encrypt or decrypt text
• Public key encryption system uses two keys
– Message receiver’s public key - readily available
– Message receiver’s private key - kept secret
• RSA - a public key encryption algorithm
• Private key encryption system
– Single key to encode and decode messages
Public Key Encryption
Public key encryption

• In an asymmetric key encryption scheme, anyone can encrypt messages

using the public key, but only the holder of the paired private key can
decrypt. Security depends on the secrecy of that private key.
Public Key Shared Secrets
• In the Diffie-Hellman
key exchange scheme,
each party generates a
public/private key pair
and distributes the
public key. After
obtaining an authentic
copy of each other's
public keys, Alice and
Bob can compute a
shared secret offline.
The shared secret can
be used as the key for a
symmetric cipher.
Data Encryption (continued)

• Most people agree encryption eventually must

be built into
– Networks
– File servers
– Tape backup systems
• Seagate Technology hard drive
– Automatically encrypts all data
• U.S. Arms Export Control Act controls the
export of encryption technology, hardware,
and software
Identity Theft

• Theft of key pieces of personal information to

gain access to a person’s financial accounts
• Information includes:
– Name
– Address
– Date of birth
– Social Security number
– Passport number
– Driver’s license number
– Mother’s maiden name
 Identity Theft (continued)

• Fastest growing form of fraud in the United

States
• Lack of initiative in informing people whose
data was stolen
• Phishing
– Attempt to steal personal identity data
– By tricking users into entering information on a counterfeit
Web site
– Spear-phishing - a variation in which employees are sent
phony e-mails that look like they came from high-level
executives within their organization
Identity Theft (continued)

• Spyware
– Keystroke-logging software
– Enables the capture of:
• Account usernames
• Passwords
• Credit card numbers
• Other sensitive information
– Operates even if an infected computer is not
connected to the Internet
• Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act
of 1998 was passed to fight fraud
 Consumer Profiling

• Companies openly collect personal information about

Internet users
• Cookies
– Text files that a Web site puts on a user’s hard drive so
that it can remember the information later
• Tracking software
• Similar methods are used outside the Web
environment
• Databases contain a huge amount of consumer
behavioral data
Cookies

• Cookies are text files that websites store on

the hard drive of the user’s computer.
• They may store passwords and user names so
that users, does not have to keep retyping
them every time they visit the site that issued
the cookie.
• Some cookies redirect the user to sites other
than the one they are trying to visit, or which
reside permanently on the user’s hard disk.
Consumer Profiling (continued)

• Affiliated Web sites

– Group of Web sites served by a single advertising
network
• Customized service for each consumer
• Types of data collected while surfing the Web
– GET data
– POST data
– Click-stream data
Consumer Profiling (continued)

• Four ways to limit or even stop the deposit of

cookies on hard drives
– Set the browser to limit or stop cookies
– Manually delete them from the hard drive
– Download and install a cookie-management
program
– Use anonymous browsing programs that don’t
accept cookies
Consumer Profiling (continued)

• Personalization software is used by marketers

to optimize the number, frequency, and
mixture of their ad placements
– Rules-based
– Collaborative filtering
– Demographic filtering
– Contextual commerce
• Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)
– Shields users from sites that don’t provide the
level of privacy protection desired
Treating Consumer Data
Responsibly
• Strong measures are required to avoid
customer relationship problems
• Code of Fair Information Practices
• 1980 OECD privacy guidelines
• Chief privacy officer (CPO)
– Executive to oversee data privacy policies and
initiatives
Manager’s Checklist for Treating
Consumer Data Responsibly
Workplace Monitoring

• Employers monitor workers

– Ensures that corporate IT usage policy is followed
• Fourth Amendment cannot be used to limit
how a private employer treats its employees
– Public-sector employees have far greater privacy
rights than in the private industry
• Privacy advocates want federal legislation
– To keeps employers from infringing upon privacy
rights of employees
Spamming

• Transmission of the same e-mail message to a

large number of people
• Extremely inexpensive method of marketing
• Used by many legitimate organizations
• Can contain unwanted and objectionable
materials
Spamming (continued)

• Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited

Pornography and Marketing (CANSPAM)
– Says it is legal to spam but
• Spammers cannot disguise their identity
• There must be a label in the message specifying that
the e-mail is an ad or solicitation
• They must include a way for recipients to indicate they
do not want future mass mailings
 Advanced Surveillance
Technology
• Camera surveillance
– U.S. cities plan to expand surveillance systems
– “Smart surveillance system”
• Facial recognition software
– Identifies criminal suspects and other undesirable
characters
– Yields mixed results
• Global Positioning System (GPS) chips
– Placed in many devices
– Precisely locate users
 Advantage of Surveillance
• Hidden Spy Cam - A Perfect Instrument Which Can be
Used For Surveillance at Homes Especially for the Baby
Sitters
• When I was constantly worried about the safety of my sweet
little daughter who is merely 9 months old, I got a solution too
to get out of all the worries which I was going through these
days. I wanted an instrument which could help me to monitor
the actions and the behavior of the baby sitter whom I had
hired just a few days back. I was worried that the baby sitter
might or might not take proper care of my sweet little
daughter. I had no other option but to leave my daughter with
an unfamiliar person because I had to join back to work after a
long maternity leave. Anyhow now I am least worried because
I have bought a Hidden Camera Phone which can allow me to
give enough security to my daughter from the baby sitter.
Modern Surveillance Technology
Modern surveillance technology,
such as these monitoring screens
in a business complex in San
Francisco, California, allows
security forces to track the
movement of people going in and
out of buildings. Banks and
businesses that deal with highly
sensitive materials and equipment
often secure their buildings by
using cameras to relay video
images to a central monitoring
location. Security officers keep
watch over the screens and can act
if they witness a crime.
Surveillance Camera
 Future Surveillance Camera
Can Tell How You Feel
• Using radio waves, you point it a wall and it tells you if anyone is
on the other side … and it turns out that the human body gives off
such sensitive radio signals, that it can even pick up breathing and
heart rates … “it will also show whether someone inside a house is
looking to harm you, because if they are, their heart rate will be
raised. And 10 years from now, the technology will be much
smarter. We’ll scan a person with one of these things and tell what
they’re actually thinking.”
• This begs two questions. One, will governments allow
such privacy protection products and services? And
two, if you try to protect your privacy, will this just
engender more surveillance of you because the
government will assume you have something to hide?
Dragonfly Spy
 Dragonfly Spy

• The little robot you see on the fingertip is a prototype created by

the Harvard Microrobotics Lab.
• More and more, we are told that the new cameras being installed
are for our own protection; that they are to prevent crime and the
like.
• Now, numerous studies have shown that they really can't be said to
do any such thing: According to the information, London police
solve only 21 percent of all crimes, and the rate of success does
not appear to have any correlation to the number of CCTV cameras
installed in each borough.
• The numbers led a spokesperson for the group to say, "Some of
this money might have been better spent on police officers.
Although CCTV has its place, it is not the only solution in
preventing or detecting crime and too often still, calls for CCTV
cameras come as a knee-jerk reaction. It is time we engaged in an
open debate about the role of CCTV cameras in London today."
 RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)

• Of all the fears associated with the technological

advancements of the computer age — and there are
many — the most long-standing and pervasive is,
arguably, humans being tagged and monitored in
some fashion, often either by bar codes.
• Small, low-frequency RFID (Radio Frequency
IDentification) tags are encoded with information
about the subject and are subsequently embedded in
them, rendering their details available to anybody
within arm’s reach — who happens to have an RFID
reader.
 RFID(Radio Frequency
Identification)

• Radio Frequency Identification technologies

permit the identification of an object
wirelessly across a distance.
• The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) makes
extensive use of RFID tags to track goods and
military material used by the armed forces
around the globe -- all to ensure proper battle
readiness and support.
• RFID is also being used in patient wrist bands
to facilitate accurate identification and
RFID Technology
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)

• That’s the wonderful thing about technology

though — as scary and awful as some may
find specific uses of certain things, there are
always those who can see the other side of
the coin.
• In this case it’s Amal Graafstra, a Washington
state native and business owner who recently
underwent the minor procedure of getting an
RFID implant in his left hand, and has lightly
documented the process on his personal web
site.
Chip Implants Already Here!!!

" . . . and cause that as many as would not worship the image
of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small
and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in
their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might
buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the
beast, or the number of his name."
-- Revelation 13:15-17
 Interview

• BME: What’s your background with RFID technology?

•
AG: I have no RFID background at this point, though I do
have an extensive tinkering and gadgetry background. I like
to mod things, and I guess it was only natural that it
extended to my own body.
• I became interested in RFID and other alternate means of
identification a while back. I constantly lose my keys and my
wallet — yeah, I’m one of those guys. So I was sitting around
thinking about keys and credit cards, and the obvious truth
that these chunks of metal and pieces of plastic were really
representing me and basically identifying me to whatever
mechanisms and systems they worked with, be it my front
door deadbolt or my bank account. I basically just wanted to
get rid of my keys and wallet.
Pre-implant and Post Implant
Amal Makes It Out Alive
Steri-strips Begin To Fall Off
Final Result

For more details of his interview log on to:

http://www.bmezine.com/news/presenttense/20050330.html
The Mark of the Beast…
• "...That no man might buy or sell, save he
that had the mark, ...Six hundred
threescore and six."--Revelation 13:17,18.

*A smaller version of this code places one six at the beginning and two
sixes at the end, using three thin lines, sharing the middle lines.
http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Chip_Implants/
Defeating Crime With
Digital Camera Cell Phones

• As more people communicate on cell phones

with video and pictures we could very well see
a decrease in crime. Criminals will realize they
may be caught on phone if they attempt any
criminal activities because of the prevalence
of these camera phones. The eyes and ears of
society will expand in scope and with that we
may likely see random acts of theft, violence,
and other crimes decrease.
 The down side of camera cellphones

• As camera cellphones grow more popular — some estimates

suggest there could be one billion around the planet by the
end of the decade — police are bracing for more incidents
similar to the case of a man who is charged with snapping
lewd photos of little girls in a Leslie St. grocery store.
• "You're going to see these incidents accelerate simply
because ... it's there, because there are so many more people
who have the ability to take photos, and of that number a
minority is going to decide to take (illicit) photos of little girls,
little boys or adults."
• http://www.thefreeradical.ca/Downside_of_cellphones.htm
 Camera Cell Phones Used to Take
Pictures of Credit Cards
• CBS Report
• Keep a watch out for people standing near you in
the checkout line at retail stores, restaurants,
grocery stores, etc. who have a camera cell phone in
hand. With the camera cell phones, they can take a
picture of your credit card, which gives them your
name, number, and expiration date. CBS reported
this type of identification theft is one of the fastest
growing scams today. Be aware of your
surroundings, forward to all your friends and family.