More journaling

One point about our privacy is based on the idea of saving money. Nowadays, companies can now offer discounts and lower prices to those who have a value card. Pretty much, people are willingly giving away their information to these companies in order for cheaper goods or services. Companies are able to take advantage and almost manipulate their customers into selling away their information. I find it a little daunting that the demand for customer information has gotten so high that they are willing to pretty much pay for it. People often don't realize that by signing up for these services, their info is being shared and sold. Though some may know what is going on, many don't mind the companies knowing exactly what they are purchasing, which is what allows for these businesses's to continue to take advantage of the system.

On page 40, Abelson mentions the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988, noting that it was created after Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video store rental records were leaked to a newspaper during his failed confirmation process. The Act was passed in response to the leak, and is, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, "one of the strongest protections of consumer privacy against a specific form of data collection." By passing the bill, Congress acknowledged that new privacy protections were required as technology developed. However, the bill's  power has degraded. Its protections run counter to the PATRIOT Act, and it could be ignored in favor of the more intrusive law in some cases.

While physical rentals were prevalent in 1988, they became obsolete. In 2011, Netflix called for a change in the law to allow it to obtain one-time consent from users to share their viewing history with Facebook, diminishing individual control of video records. The law was changed to allow companies to ask for consent to share only once, instead of every time the sharing occurred. Although it preserved the requirement that consumer consent to the sharing be given at least once, the law reduced consumer control of viewing information below its originally protected level.

Source: https://epic.org/privacy/vppa

Talking along the lines of privacy, the Privacy Act of 1974 came into play. It arose shortly after the incident with President Nixon and how he gathered information on those who opposed him. After that fiasco happened, Congress was eager to ban certain extents in the future.

Essentially, the Privacy Act of 1974  was passed to initiate control over what personal information can be collected and maintained by the government. It limits what the Government can do to gather personal information from individuals.

In the act, it is made up of three primary rights. The first one is the the individual has the right to see records and information about themselves. The second one is to scrutinize your information and "request the amendment of records that are not accurate, etc.". The third right is for oneself to be protected from "unwarranted invasion". You are ultimately able to make a request to look up the information about yourself under the Privacy Act. Overall, the Privacy Act of 1974 was vital to have so you have certain rights to your records and info ration that has been gathered by the Government.

http://foia.state.gov/Learn/PrivacyAct.aspx

The so called black box, has now cropped up on cars, although this is not the only piece of electronic tracking that has been implements in the last few years. All new cars, have these black boxes on board, but many of them also now come with other tech that allows the cars to send out data and communicate with their environment or send data back to manufactures. A few years ago GM proposed allowing collection of data from those who are no longer subscribed to OnStar, their vehicle tracking and call service.  The idea was shoot down because of the public outcry, but these technologies are becoming more and more common place, with many other car companies having similar devices on cars. These devices are used with the reasoning that they are helpful and can help keep the passenger safe, although it can also be easily used to track individuals, by groups like the federal government or other organizations. 

One of the big reasons Abelson believes we give up our rights to privacy is to save time. This is clear when driving on a toll road and see the large amount of people who have passes such as the I-pass we saw in class today. These store what toll area you pass, and the exact second you pass it, allowing it to track where you travel. 

After some research, the number of people who use devices similar to an I-Pass is astounding. According to thetollroads.com, 87% of drivers in California use them on toll roads or bridges. Along those lines, a group called the E-Z Pass Group, an association of 26 toll agencies over 15 states mainly in the Northeast, claim to have over 26 million passes in use (www.e-zpassiag.com). 

People view their time as precious, and will do spend a little money up front to be able to blow by those stuck waiting for the toll booth, even at the risk of someone being able to watch where and when they are traveling.

PC Pandora is an application that you can install on your or someone else's computer that can track what is being done and also restrict what a person is able to do. After visiting www.pcpandora.com, I found that they offer different versions of their product. It can also be used by parents, people who want to know what guests are doing on their computer, or by businesses. I found it particularly interesting that one of the features they offer is something they call silent mode. When this setting is enabled a person would not know that the application was running in the background. This would mean if a person had the ability to install this application on a computer discretely it could essentially be used as a easy to install spyware. Tracking keystrokes among other things.

The FBI’s criminal Justice Information Services division has developed the Next Generation Identification (NGI) with varying different techniques to identify people to replace the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). The IAFIS was already the largest person centric biometric database the NGI will be adding to it and making use of new technologies to help officers in the field and crime solving abilities of the law enforcement. The NGI offers state of the art biometric scanners for fingerprints and irises. Both of which are quick ways of determining identify in the field. The NGI also has the Repository for Individuals of Special Concern (RISC). The RISC is a mobile identification that allows officers to identify Wanted Persons, Sex Offenders, known or suspected Terrorists and other special interest people. This will allow officers to quickly asses the threat level of the area. Another aspect of NGI Latent and National Palm Print System (NPPS). The NPPS keeps palm prints on a nationally available database to enhance crime solving ability. This has helped close cases that would not have been otherwise and it has helped to close many cold cases by giving law enforcement new leads. The NGI also has a photo system that is a pilot program it will search a small population of mug shots against the photo taken.

source: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/ngi

In the United States, we give up our privacy because we have no other choice. There are 391.24 million credit card accounts as of 2013 in the US. Credit cards keep a record of when, where, and what we buy and how often we pay. If a consumer wants to make a large purchase they must use a credit card as opposed to cash. If cash is used in large quantities vendors become suspicious. You can not even check into a hotel without having a credit card anymore. To travel in the United States one needs a credit card, despite that it means a complete invasion of privacy. 

The Privacy act restricted interdepartmental data transfers. It attempts to regulate the collection and dissemination of data by executive federal agencies. This act made it so police could not trace phones or read emails without a warrant. Any illegally obtained evidence could not be used in court. After the attacks on the pentagon and the world trade center, the political focus shifted from protection of electronic privacy, to supporting government surveillance. This brought about the PATRIOT act and the creation of Homeland Security. The PATRIOT act extended the federal governments authority into electronic data to fight terrorism. It removed the requirement of the FISA act that made the President only able to wiretap non-U.S. citizens without a warrant. The PATRIOT act still protects U.S. citizens engaging in First Amendment activities. A wiretap happens when court orders a surveillance warrant without naming any third parties. Intelligence agencies believe this is necessary because a terrorist could read the order and change computers, accounts and phones. This act was concerning to many because they felt like it had violated the Fourth Amendment. In Blown to Bits, there was an argument that the events on September 11^th, 2001, could have been avoided if interdepartmental data sharing was allowed because the sharing of that data could have connected the dots showing the plot of the attack. 

One of the things Abelson mentions when he talks about privacy is the difference between publicly available and readily accessible. Before the advent of the digital era, certain types of information were publicly available, but often could only be accessed through great lengths of research and clearance. Now, this information is just a few mouse click and button taps away from any computer in the world. Abelson talks about the ability of anyone to pay around $100 to look up the phone history of anyone in the world, as long as you have their phone number. I never realized how accessible this information was until I tried for myself. I was informed about this website a friend of mine used when he worked for the police to gather information. When, on new years day, I was messaged by an unknown number, I used the website that he told me about, and for five dollars and an unknown persons phone number, i found out his name, where he lives, how old he is, and numerous other facts I'm sure he didn't want me to know. It really puts in perspective the possibility of literally anyone to gather this type of information about me and anyone else.

I found the section “You Pay for the Mike, We’ll just Listen In” quite interesting. I knew that you could bug a phone and listen in on conversations, however, I was unaware that even though a phone is turned off, the microphone can still pick up and transmit your conversations. I found an article entitled “Cell Phone Users Beware: How to Protect Yourself from Government Spying.”  The article discusses how the FBI can listen to what you say even when the phone is turned off, by using what is called the “roving bug.” The only way to prevent the FBI, or whoever is using a “roving bug” from listening is by removing the phone’s battery. This point was also discussed in the assigned reading. The article also talks about how the FBI has access to cell phones, and without the owner’s knowledge, can remotely modify them without actually having them in hand. Another article I found also discusses the FBI’s use of this bug as a form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations. For example, the judge in a case against John Ardito, a major player in the national Mafia, ruled that the roving bug was legal because federal wiretapping laws were broad enough to “permit eavesdropping, even conversations that take place near the suspect’s cell phone.”

Something that was briefly discussed in Blown To Bits, which I think could be the most important issue when it comes to computer privacy, is digital footprints and fingerprints.  We constantly leave behind digital footprints on the Internet weather we choose to or not.  Many times people will actually choose to release a wide variety of information simply because they were asked to or because they were getting something in return such as discounts at the grocery store or an online service.  However, when someone surfs the web their history as well as their location and IP address can also be recorded in a database without the user knowing.  That information is then easily sold to companies that can use it for multiple purposes.  Usually people are aware that their online activity is not entirely private; it is well known that you should be careful of what you post online because employers or law enforcers could potentially see it.  Many users claim that they have no problem with cyber-vetting since they believe they have nothing to hide; however this hopeful attitude does not always work out.  In some cases credit companies actually base one’s “creditworthiness” on the credit scores of their Facebook friends.  They can also determine one’s reliability based on certain behaviors, such as how much time you take to fill out applications and your willingness to add the credit company on Facebook or Twitter.

The Total Information Awareness project was shut down a few months after it began. The amount of privacy breach of citizens was clearly objectionable, but at the same time the stated intentions of the project was clearly in the public interest. This is an excellent illustration of a tipping point being reached, a combination of safety and intrusion that is now too much. The purpose of the project was to preemptively catch potential terrorist attacks before any harm was done, since this was started in response to the attack on the World Trade Center. A noble cause, however when TIA was brought to the public eye and examined more closely by national media coverage, it became apparent the extent to which the government was interfering with people's privacy. The project basically had the capability to know practically everything about everyone, and intended to keep tabs on everyone at all time through various data mining techniques. This caused enough negative public reaction that TIA and the department it was under were shut down within a few months. This did not stop other government agencies from continuing to use similar methods to do essentially the same thing, and yet the government has kept these mostly secret from the public. These methods can be used without even need for proof of suspicion, and that is the true breach of privacy. The true problem is the delicately small step between watching us to keep us safe, and watching us to keep us in submission.

Many citizens do not realize the level of information collected about them on a daily basis. Corperations like Acxiom take bits of data from internet users through their client businesses, and in turn they offer deals to the average American depending on the data they collect.

Ever noticed that when you are "window-shopping" online that the ads conveniently reflect what you are looking for? That is because when you search for a product online, that data goes to Acxiom where they file it and tailor what you see in your ads. Acxiom also collects the data from in-store, credit card purcashes. A New York TImes article published in 2012 stated that Acxiom holds a database with information on just under two hundred million individuals and manages the customer databases for forty-seven of the Fortune 100 companies. They sell the information that they collect to a company, and manage the customer range, which is meant to bring business to an up and coming or well-established business.

Sources: http://www.databyacxiom.com/about-us.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/technology/acxiom-the-quiet-giant-of-consumer-database-marketing.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I was interested on the topics of RFIDS.  It was interesting how these rfids can practically be on anything even clothing without the consumer know about it. At first these rfids were only limited to tracking cattle. Now however manufacturers use these to account for inventory and other things like vehicles, airline passengers and pets. This brings up a major privacy issue because people are unaware of these tags on their clothings or other things.  Once people make these purchases, other people can find out info like when you made the purchase, how much it cost, where your were, and etc.