Privacy and Trust in Cyberspace
Building upon the
1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 9th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the
Supreme Court has created and protected a concept of privacy in the
physical world. Yet in Cyberspace (the world of interconnected
computers) information about you and your loved ones is gathered,
used, bought, and sold without your knowledge or permission. How is
this possible? Why is undetected cyber-snooping relatively easy?
What can you do to improve your information privacy? Who and what are
you trusting as a citizen of cyberspace?
Note: After you have finished the reading, the last two items
ask you to write a few pages and be prepared to discuss them.
- Read Amendments 1, 3, 4, 5, 9 of
the U.S. Bill of Rights
- Read
Utilities' smart meters save money, but erode privacy
- Read How we are losing our privacy online
- Skim
Prescription data used to assess consumers
- Skim (not so new anymore but still out there)
New Computer Virus for Voyeurs
- Skim
Privacy and Consumer Profiling
- Read
Data Mining Tells Government and Business a Lot About You
- Skim and follow a few links from
The A to Z's of Privacy
- Skim
Georgia Takes a Beating in the Cyberwar With Russia
- Read Big Brother?. For
this you must be logged in from Swarthmore.
- Read Senate Committee Passes Patriot Act Reauthorization Bill
- Read Leading surveillance societies in the EU and the World. Note the
US ranking and reasons (scroll way down for reasons). Also look at
PHR2006 - Executive Summary
- Read
Surprise! You're exposed This an old article but it is still
going on. Poke around: datalossdb.
- Read Cisco Security Advisories and Notices.
Look at a couple of the advisories. Cisco routers are
the most common on the internet.
That makes them a serious security concern.
- Skim
The DNS Vulnerability from Schneier on Security
- Read
Defying Experts, Rogue Computer Code Still Lurks
- Go to
Computer Emergency Respose Team Center vulnerability notes and explore a little. Click on and read some recent vulnerabilities.
-
The European Union has acted on Information Privacy (much enacted
in 1998). The US has not done much as evidenced in the
Privacy International Survey .
Note that the US ranks lowest
with Russia and China in statutory protection and
privacy enforcement. Most EU countries seem to do better
on these metrics.
Find out what the EU
position is on information privacy. Consider the US situation.
Make some notes briefly summarizing your understanding of the US
and EU approaches to information privacy. Then write a couple of
pages:
Either argue that the
US is doing just fine with regard to information privacy or
suggest what can and should be done.
- Think hard about what privacy is and whether
it is an obsolete idea or something to be cherished. Why?
Write a short statement on this. You will not have to hand
it in; but, be prepared to share
your ideas at our meeting.