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| from Time.com |
Inside is a collection of links and articles related to the issue of privacy in the Internet/cell phone age. Please look them over to prepare for our discussion on George Orwell's novel 1984.
The main ideas of our discussion will be that Orwell couldn't foresee (because he wasn't a time traveler or a witch), (1) how quickly technology would advance to make both government and corporate data collection virtually automatic, (2) how much privacy people would voluntarily give up, and (3) world's biggest data miners and processors would be corporations
And the major question about all of this is "Does it Matter?" Does it matter if the government and corporations have the power to gather and analyze data about us? Why should we care if we are not doing anything wrong?
And the major question about all of this is "Does it Matter?" Does it matter if the government and corporations have the power to gather and analyze data about us? Why should we care if we are not doing anything wrong?
The USA Patriot Act (passed in October 2001) expands U.S. government surveillance powers
- Controversial elements of the Patriot act include "sneak and peak" warrants and the government's power to request library and bookstore records of as part of terror investigations.
National Security Agency (NSA) thought to be monitoring all Internet traffic in U.S.
Police make 1.3 million requests of cellphone data in the year 2011
How Companies Learn Your Secrets
Online tracking companies know most of what you do online
- In 2006, a whistle-blower reveals that the NSA is monitoring all Internet traffic passing through major Internet switching stations on the West and East coasts.
- Implemented in 2001 and continued under the Obama administration, the NSA listens in on international phone calls, even when American citizens are on the calls.
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The NSA is outed by leaker, Edward Snowden. Massive Internet and phone surveillance.
- Information is leaked in the summer of 2013 (and then confirmed) showing that the NSA has been keeping records on every phone call in the U.S. (and beyond) and on all Internet traffic. All in violation of its charter to spy only on international communications.
- According to one official involved in its creation: “Everybody’s a target; everybody with communication is a target.”
- Update on the NSA's Utah data center. Experts think it can hold 5 zettabytes of information.
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- Includes cell tower dumps where any call made through a cell tower in a given period of time is included in the released records.
- Data collection companies make billions of dollars collecting information about us (in both the virtual and real worlds) and selling that data.
- Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama (and candidates of the future) used that information in their campaigns
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Corporate Data Collection:
- This is the infamous Target article where Target knew a girl was pregnant before her parents did
- Third party apps get access not only to your information but also all of your friends (without their consent). From the Wall Street Journal "What they know" series about Facebook advertising.
- An examination of Buzzfeed's use of the data it learns from all of those online quizzes shows that they are trying to compile marketable data about us that they can sell to advertisers.
- An opinion article, but the author brings up scary ideas about how corporations might use the data that Facebook has to sell to them
- Using cookies and other trackers, your Internet browsing is being tracked by hundreds of companies (see "What They Know")
As Occupy anniversary nears, Twitter gives up info on protester
- Judge rules that since Twitter is public there is no expectation of privacy, even after the public tweets are taken down.
- None of these programs can guarantee anonymity, but they can help cut down on the online spying.
Mafia Boss gives away location to police on Facebook
- One of Italy's 100 most wanted criminals caught because he can't stay off of Facebook (his screen name? Scarface)
- England does not have a Bill of Rights and has a "Malicious Communications Act" which prohibits sending public messages that may cause distress or anxiety.
- Soldier posts that his unit is going on a raid into the West Bank on the next day.
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When It's Out of Our Control
Basic weakness in iCloud security leads to celebrity photo leaks
- iCloud security is so poor that it is hacked in one of the oldest, least original ways possible. As a result, nude photos of celebrities are leaked onto the web.
- Over 100 million customers' credit and debit card info taken
- Sony lose names, addresses, phone numbers, and credit card data for 100 million customers
- Much of the stock market trading is now done by computers that operate in fractions of a second. In 2010 there was a glitch the caused the stock market to drop 900 points and rebound within minutes.
- In August of 2012, 'Knight Capital' lost $440 million dollars when their computers made millions of unwanted trades.
- Company refuses to detail how many customers affected. Handles email marketing for the College Board, LL Bean, Best Buy, Disney and others. Increase in "phishing" expected.
- Information of "only" 1.5 million customers is stolen
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Potential Issues of the Future:
Watson-IBM's Jeopardy winning computer can read 200 million pages in 3 seconds- There no longer needs to be a person watching every telescreen or correcting every record
- Automated programs mistakenly identify her speech on YouTube as copyrighted material
- Is this a necessary part of keeping us safe or an invasion of privacy?
- Wearable computers that can also provide targeted, location specific advertising
- A video demonstration of Google's Project Glass
Google 'Now" designed to give you ads and information through "Project Glass"
- It will recommend restaurants and stores near you based upon your known likes and your search and email histories
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