Invasion of privacy is a serious issue concerning the Internet, as e-mails can be read if not encrypted, and cookies can track a user and store personal information. Lack of privacy policies and employee monitoring threatens security also. Individuals should have the right to protect themselves as much as possible from privacy invasion and shouldn’t have to give in to lowered standards of safety being pursued by the government.
Encryption is the best and most convenient way to ensure that e-mails and other files transferred via the Internet are kept private during transfer. The widespread use of strong encryption technology is essential to protect consumers and businesses against spies, fraud, and theft over the computer networks used in electronic commerce. The federal government has just announced a new policy that will maintain restrictions on the export of encryption stronger than 56 bits. Stronger encryption technology may be exported only to subsidiaries of U.S. companies in most countries, or to certain economic sectors in 42 countries (insurance, banking, or online merchants). Some law enforcement interests support legislation that would force U.S. citizens and residents to give the government access to the secret keys that read encryption. Government-mandated key recovery and controls over the strength of encryption are a grave danger to the privacy of law-abiding citizens and businesses, not only in the United States but all over the world. This compromises freedom and sacrifices basic privacy rights.
A new law, Senate bill 6027 (the E-Privacy Act), is trying to combat these sacrifices. This law would prohibit indirect controls or ties to encryption use…
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…umers should demand that these stipulations be addressed and attended to. Invasion of privacy is happening more than many individuals realize, so staying aware and alert of exploitation is necessary. Privacy violation over the Internet is just as important as privacy in the home: it belongs to us and shouldn’t be taken away by anyone.
Sources Cited
The E-Privacy Act–Analysis of the bill by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Key_escrow/1998/HTML/19980521_e-privacy_eff_analysis.html
Privacy Invasion Links–Articles, organizations, and resources.
http://www.larrysworld.com/privacy.html
Personal Privacy–Steps to protect the consumer.
http://www.larrysworld.com/articles/personalpriv.htm
Internet Privacy Coalition–The latest news in Internet security through encryption.
http://www.epic.org/crypto/
Essay on Internet Privacy – Carnivore is an Invasion to Privacy
Carnivore is an Invasion to Privacy
Carnivore is the FBI’s latest toy. All the time we hear about how it is an invasion to privacy, and while I do agree it does have serious problems it also has some moral dilemmas. For example who is subject to Carnivore and where is it located? How much and What kind of information is the FBI interested in getting?
Lets start by looking at just what exactly Carnivore is. Carnivore is an actual piece of hardware that the FBI connects to an internet backbone. According to Compnet.com; “For Carnivore to gain access to this much data, its hardware must be plugged directly into the network at a central location. Because most Internet based communications in the USA flow through large Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the FBI would typically install a Carnivore box inside an ISP data center. Controlled physical and network access improves the system’s overall security.” Basically from the data center of the ISP Carnivore is able to acquire any information that it chooses to, or is assigned to. Typically a search warrant is issued and the device set to acquire information about a subject. Any email, or other form of communications that the person being viewed is recorded for the FBI to view later. Any information is intercepted once the FBI is in they know all and see all. Which begs the question what if they are getting search warrants on anyone they choose? Who reports them? Who holds the people accountable for spying on people later found out to be innocent? Because Carnivore is a “BLACK BOX” project a lot of information about the project is not being released to the public and if that is not scary enough for you, the people in charge of issuing the warrants and who the FBI labels and those that need to be “Watched” is also not readily available. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Without an internal regulatory system for the FBI to control the use of carnivore it looks as though anyone anywhere can be tapped.
Carnivore also has other problems too. According to cnn.com; “Specific technical concerns noted by the scientists include a lack of analysis between the Carnivore code and its host environment and operating system, inadequate discussion of the remote access provided by the use of the “PC Anywhere” program, and no evidence of a systematic search for bugs or serious errors.