Online Privacy

Why is the topic “online privacy” such a big problem in our society? For people who go on a holiday trip it is a naturalness to lock every window and door very accurately, some curtains are partly drawn to avoid prying eyes, one or two lights are not turned off to imply that there is someone at home. Very careful people even instruct their neighbors to have a gawp at the house from time to time. All this effort to protect their privacy as well as their belongings.

But all this effort is instantly vanished when these people are lying on the beach while enjoying the sun and the tropical sound of the waves and sharing their experiences and impressions of the ongoing holiday in the internet. Pictures on Facebook and Instagram, short status updates on Twitter and both together on WhatsApp with their friends and colleagues. All the thoughts about protecting their privacy are gone.

It seems like the society lives in two different worlds when it comes to privacy. On the one hand the well-protected privacy of the real life and on the other hand the quite carefree dealing with privacy in the internet.

The news are full of themes like hacked bank accounts, spying of the email correspondence, disposal of the personal data and so on. People are constantly in contact with this topic and they seem to be aware of the problem but at the same time they appear very helpless in terms of protection against these perils – at least they think so. The internet and of course its long range is not easy to understand but there do exist ways and means to receive a better comprehension with the dealing of the internet. In the following this paper gives an analyzation about the current perils in dealing with the online privacy and which options are available to give an accurate protection.

Since the internet is a relatively new phenomenon it brought up concerns about privacy of every individual user. The amount of accessible information about nearly anything is continuously growing as well as the information circulating about individuals while it is getting easier to retrieve virtually everything. Anytime one reveals personal information such as credit card applications, online purchases or even visits to web sites, these facts are gathered and stored. We need to admit that providing personal information is vital and necessary for our society, however everyone who provides it with the expectations that it will remain confidential.[1]

Privacy awareness has grown significantly and society is on its right way as government and industry analytic programs are being introduced. Many governments around the world have implemented data collections and analysis programs to protect their people from possible threats like terrorists and criminal organizations while the monitoring and storing of such data is still very controversial.

The Government is one of the biggest consumers and producers of dossiers of personal information, and as such should be viewed as a potential threat to privacy. [2]

The fulfillment of customer privacy requirements is quite difficult. A number of technologies have been developed in order to achieve information privacy goals. Therefore many privacy enhancing technologies are implemented to try to ensure a safer structure of the internet by adding perks which are trying to encrypt sensible data even more.[3]

In 2012, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of data protection rules in the EU. The aim of this act was to give citizens back control over their personal data.[4]

In addition to these implementations, there are numerous ways for us as the users to protect ourselves against the publication of our information. Try to encrypt your email account with some extensions to make it harder to access your data. Most of the used browsers to surf the internet are equipped with a modus to surf the web incognito, which means that your search history as well as cookies will not be stored on your computer. This combined with software to block so called trackers is a very efficient way to stay more private while browsing. Deleting cookies and blocking trackers is disabling the ability of certain sites or programs to follow you online and to store your online habits. It is also possible to hide your IP address completely, which can keep websites from tracking your online activity or even knowing which country you’re browsing from.[5]

These are just a few of the actions one is able to take in order to protect our privacy online, but this requires awareness that we are not well protected online and that as easy as we are able to access information, someone else is able to mine our data which we leave behind online.

Everybody should ask themselves how much control they like to have over their personal data and how they can guarantee this control. Most internet users would like to be anonymous online at least occasionally. We won’t give a stranger our name or our address in real life but the Internet creates the illusion of anonymity which leads us to a false safety and a new definition of privacy.

We leave a digital footprint behind us every time we use the Internet. We transmit personal data e.g. websites visited, products looked at or E-mails sent. The user trusts in the safety of his data but is often not aware of its value and protection. Privacy and power is about retaining the ability to disclose data consensually and with expectations about the context and scope of sharing. Companies like Facebook and Google empower their users to manage their online identities and the digital footprint they leave behind by policies which sometimes do not comply with national data protection laws like the Google’s Privacy Policy in 2012 with European data protection laws. Today’s most valuable commodity is information and it became a big brand and marketing issue. People do not pay for web browsing software so companies need to find other ways to make profit and one of the most profitable is advertisement. Therefore Google and others use software for online profiling often without the knowledge of users and use this for personalized advertisement and for ‘market research’. These results and data can be sold by the companies for a lot of money and it is difficult for rules and procedures to be established to protect customers because at the moment technology is changing very quickly and there is no standard international law.

The people’s perception of digital privacy have changed a lot over the years and they start to understand that their data has a value.[6] Younger people are still more likely to give personal data to websites and organization compared to elder adults’ but their expectation of their data’s protection and integrity by marketers is increasing. Research suggests that people are more concerned about commercial image of their data then about government. The online data can be used by law enforcement and the government. It is possible to track people down and get into personal accounts without the knowledge of their owners.

This shows that leaving no trace is no longer an option so the digital foot print needs to be kept clean. People’s greatest cause of concern is the unknown. Users often do not know when and if they are being tracked, who collects the information, how this is done and for what purpose. Facebook can track their users through its “like” function and use this information to select the ads which were shown.[7] Every user gave their permission for this by agreeing to Facebook policy.

With the rapidly increasing usage of the internet, millions of people either voluntarily expose their privacy on the internet or unknowingly give away their highly valuable personal information. Many companies have realized that dealing with personal data is a significant profitable business. Experts characterize data as the new oil in the digital industry.[8] Nowadays, the internet is omnipresent. People use it mainly to communicate, to purchase, to sell and to get information. The digital footprint that we leave behind is often overlooked. Companies, for instance, use the information to present personalized advertisements.

An obvious example for the insecurity of the internet is Google. Google has developed to a huge media concern, with a wide range of business activities. By this time, Google is able to create detailed user profiles. These resources are highly profitable and useful for the company itself, other firms and even for governmental institutions.

The Snowden revelations expose the major interest of governmental institution, to collect as much information as possible. The National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States of America spies transnationally on politicians, industrial businesses and even private households.9 In the name of the fight against terrorism, the NSA violates fundamental civil rights by spying on private persons.

While this is true, Facebook users voluntarily reveal to a greater or lesser extend a vast amount of information. Today there are about 1.44 billion Facebook users worldwide, in other words 20 % of the global population gives their private or commercial information to an obscure company.

The media concern Google, Facebook and the governmental institution NSA are famous examples for the missing privacy on the internet. Experts like Steven Rambam, the founder and CEO of Pallorium, Inc., a licensed Investigative Agency with offices and affiliates worldwide, already argue that there is no such thing as online privacy anymore. Today, the Internet will not forget and will not delete revealed information. According to Rambam every text message or uploaded party photo on Facebook is saved everlasting and tied up to your name forever.[10]

By using the smartphone everyday it became easy for companies to figure out your current position, by using the location data. The position of a smartphone user is considered as an important information. Armed with this data, companies could recommend and offer certain shops close to the customer. It would be even worse if employers, the government or anyone else knows the position. Even if this would not be legal, the simplicity of getting the location data of someone is frightening.

With this in mind, it is absolutely essential to be aware of the fact that there is at least a lack of privacy or even worse, no privacy on the internet at all. It is very important to adopt measures against the explained issues and even more significant to clarify the society about the lack of privacy on the internet.

Online Privacy affects every one of us. Ever since the revelations of Edward Snowden the majority of us knows that there is a possible danger to our privacy. In fact according to the Think Tanks CIGI (Centre for International Governance Innovation) 60% of 14000 questioned people knew about Snowdens actions. Even 94% when it came to queried Germans. Unfortunately only 39% of these people broke their online habits. The reason for this is that most users see the theme online privacy as complex and inconvenient. But would users rather care if they knew that any information could be bound to themselves forever like the company Pallorium argues? This leads to one of the discussions key problems: Lacking information and interest.[11]

Most of todays democracies cannot withstand the power of an unhappy society denouncing problem limiting their personal freedom. And even Google or Facebook could not withstand this power. Of course it actually is the duty of the individual to inform themselves about the consequences occurring when they use facilities like the internet and it could be called naive to just use the internet without caring about the effects. But obviously there is the need to certain methods to help the society.

So there are two main procedures now: First to fight the peoples ignorance towards the threat by helping them gathering information and therefore helping them to realize this danger. Secondly to show the “cyber-spies” that they need to find other ways to make their money which Snowden referred to as the Defense against the Dark Arts in the digital world. The first point is obviously the duty of the government and it is up to the single man or woman to be open-minded and attentive about the flow of information. But we can play our part by supporting the second procedure. There are lots of possible methods to do so and Edward Snowden brought it down to five methods: Firstly by avoiding popular websites like Google, Facebook or Dropbox and find alternatives. In a video interview for the New York Festival Edward Snowden described these services as dangerous. Secondly by encrypting as much devices as possible not just with passwords but with specialized encrypting software even easily usable by normal users. Furthermore by avoiding online tracking software with browser extensions. Also by encrypting the digital communication via chat, email or even phone calls with one of the many applications already circulating on the market. And lastly by using specialized browsers. Especially the “Tor”-Browser is currently the safest browser to use if you care about your online privacy.[12]

Of course it is now entirely sure if every method obtainable is working but at least it creates barriers against attackers to a certain point. And it is extremely important that we show the cyber burglars entering our digital privacy that we do not tolerate them and that we will fight for our personal freedom. We must not forget that today the societies unified will is the most powerful weapon in the world.

References

1. Buchholz, Rogene A; Rosenthal, Sandra B. S.A.M. Advanced Management Journal67.1, Winter 2002, 34-40.
2. Douglas Barnes, ``The Coming Jurisdictional Swamp of Global Internetworking (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Anonymity),'' 16 Nov
3. Fabian, supra note 6, 61 s; Benjamin Fabian/Oliver Günther, Security Challenges of the EPCglobal Network, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 52, July 2009, 121–125
4. European Comission,2015. Protection of personal data. [online] available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/
5. The Guardian, 2015. 21 tips, tricks and shortcuts to help you stay anonymous online. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/06/tips-tricks-anonymous-privacy [accessed 29.06.15]
6. eMarketer, More Than Nine In 10 Internet Users Worry About Online Privacy., [online], Available through: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/More-Than-Nine-10-Internet-Users-Worry-About-Online-Privacy/1010587 [Accessed 28 June 2015].
7. Popescu, A., 3 Big Privacy Issues Of 2013 And What You Can Do About Them., [e-journal], Available through: http://readwrite.com/2012/12/26/3-big-privacy-issues-of-2013-and-what-you-can-do-about-them [Accessed 28 June 2015].
8. Toonders, J., Data Is the New Oil of the Digital Economy., [e-journal], Available through http://www.wired.com/2014/07/data-new-oil-digital-economy/ [Accessed 28 June 2015].
9. Beuth, P., Alles Wichtige zum NSA-Skandal., [e-journal], Available through: http://www.zeit.de/digital/datenschutz/2013-10/hintergrund-nsa-skandal [Accessed 28 June 2015]
10. Rambam, S., 2010. Privacy Is Dead – Get Over It at The Next HOPE. [online], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaYn_PkrfvQ [Accessed 28 June 2015].
11. Kuhn, D., 5 Tipps von Edward Snowden für mehr Online-Sicherheit ., [online], Available through: http://www.netzpiloten.de/tipps-von-edward-snowden-fuer-mehr-online-sicherheit/ [Accessed 29 June 2015].
12. Halleck, T., Edward Snowden Offers Online Privacy Tips: Drop Box, Facebook and Google., [e-journal], Available through: http://www.ibtimes.com/edward-snowden-offers-online-privacy-tips-drop-dropbox- facebook-google-1703894 [Accessed 29 June 2015]