updated 2010 Feb 21
see also the unit on Privacy Issues
 

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.	This page used in the following courses taught by Prof. Richardson . MGT D06 CCT 322 MGD 415 MRK 410 BCS 555 BIT 704 .

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INTRODUCTION

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This unit covers email surveillance and email filtering  by government, of citizens by private companies, of employees, and customers

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Privacy Issues Globally           Privacy Issues Globally

rb Saman H. in BCS 555 in December 2006 sent a long email that covered several issues related to email filtering, firewalls and privacy issues. . Hello Sir I have come from Iran, where the fundamental government controls the internet.  They provided huge facility to ban and censor the internet and I think there is a very important issue in e-business. Unfortunately the number of Internet users is increasing very fast and recently the government banned a high speed internet too.  “Iran's Islamic government has opened a new front in its drive to stifle domestic political dissent and combat the influence of western culture - by banning high-speed internet links.”  Guardian - Robert Tait - Wednesday October 18, 2006 http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1924637,00.html But fortunately I have read amazing news today from Canadian researchers in University of Toronto. They have created great software which its name is “Psiphon”. The Psiphon allows internet users in countries with internet censorship to escape from  governmental firewalls and filtering. I think, it is going to be a revolution against Chinese and American censor software producers. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.... I think this article related to our discussion in the class when you mentioned about “Firewalls” two weeks ago, I think there is a very important issue in e-business, because for example If I was in clothing business, and If I want to write some of those “META” codes for increasing my web site ranking, I do not have to write “Woman”, “Underwear”, “Girls” and etc in the “Meta” part because my web page will be filtering by those mess censorship computer programs. Thank you for your time

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Privacy Issues Globally           Privacy Issues Globally

"Tighter surveillance worries privacy groups"  By D. Ian Hopper,  ASSOCIATED PRESS carried in the Toronto Star 2002 Sept 9th suggested by student Bhavini T. from BCS555 KEY POINTS The issue is that worldwide, governments have enacted rules and regulations to allow law enforcement agencies to increasingly intercept and monitor communications in order to uncover criminal activity and terrorist plots. WTGR. . "WASHINGTON — Governments worldwide have made it easier for authorities to augment citizen databases and eavesdrop on  telephone and online conversations in  order to fight terror, according to a survey of privacy regulations. The report, written by privacy activists Electronic Privacy Information Center   www.epic.org  and Privacy International, show the  United States was not alone in passing  new laws that value increased security over personal privacy." permission to quote given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

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Here is the web page for the actual Report noted in the 2002 Star article  http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/phr2002/ "It's a general theme toward total identification," said Sarah Andrews, an author of the report, which was released last week. "When you're outside in public or when you're online, you can be identified.'That dismays privacy groups, which worry about free speech  restrictions and abuses of power. They have fought new laws like the U.S. anti-terror legislation that lowered the bar on surveillance  requirements by authorities.   KEY POINTS There are two sides for every story - while the privacy activities are concerned about individual rights of privacy, other people are concerned about the greater picture of safety and security for society. WTGR. . "Stewart Baker, a former general counsel for the NSA, said increased data sharing might have helped identify the  Sept. 11 hijackers. He said many surveillance proposals were already moving toward passage, and speeded up by legitimized fears of a terrorist threat. "They're really complaining about changes in the world rather than changes in the law," said Baker.

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Privacy Issues Technology  Used For  Gathering Info - at odds with privacy rights

By Robyn Weisman  www.NewsFactor.com,   Part of the NewsFactor Network   November 8, 2001 story on the E-Commerce Times site "Web Trackers: The Spies in Your Computer"  www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/14662.html "In American law, data is owned not by the subject of the data but by the concern collecting  it - which means users generally do not have access to the information. " "Web trackers -- software technology designed to track an individual's Web surfing  habits for marketing purposes -- are becoming a more prevalent part of the Internet  user experience than ever before, despite growing awareness of the privacy issues  associated with them.

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Privacy Issues

The tracking companies that make and sell the software appeal to potential clients by  presenting themselves as "solutions providers." While they emphasize their ability to  collate the information they collect, the real hard work of these market research firms  is obtaining the actual data to analyze, Gartner senior research analyst Bill Gassman  told NewsFactor Network.   "Data is the golden nugget of their business model," Gassman told NewsFactor. "If  they lose that, they're toast."    KEY POINTS The issue is that companies do this tracking because it is technically possible - but since there is no such thing as "Internet Police", and no international internet laws which can be enforced - there are many opportunities for people gathering this info, and using it in ways which individuals countries may not agree. WTGR. permission to quote from ecommercetimes.com given by publisher Richard Kern in an email Dec 10th, 2004. Prof. Richardson is also a contributing writer to ecommercetimes.com. Copies of emails kept on file in the permissions binder.

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Privacy Issues Technology  Used For  Gathering Info - at odds with privacy rights

"Web Trackers: The Spies in Your Computer"  www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/14662.html "NewsFactor spoke with  representatives of two Web tracking firms: Ottawa, Ontario-based WebHancer Corporation and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based NetGenesis. Despite their disparate data collection methods, both companies claimed that they assiduously protect user privacy -- and that it is in their best interest to do so.  WebHancer tracks consumer Web surfing habits by installing a program (generally bundled with shareware and freeware programs that WebHancer sponsors) on  users' Windows PCs. The application then shadows the users, reporting what Web sites they visit, their pattern once within a given Web site, and how long they remain at the site before abandoning it.

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Privacy Issues

In addition, the applications seek to determine to what degree usage patterns are determined by the content and design of a given Web site or by technical issues."   KEY POINTS The companies that do this tracking claim they are only interested in aggregate info and not individual personal profiles - but the privacy and citizen rights organizations are concerned about potential abuses. Using Amazon as an example, it has been pointed out that the company originally promised never to reveal consumer data, but then changed its policy in case it falls into bankruptcy and finds it needs to sell that information to raise funds.  WTGR.

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Privacy Issues Technology  Used For  Gathering Info   - at odds with privacy rights

"Spyware Keeps Tabs on Employee Surfing" 2002 Oct 11th issue "SpectorSoft Corp announced that it has begun shipping a major upgrade to eBlaster, a software product that allows employers to know exactly what their employees are doing on the Internet, even if they are thousands of miles away, according to the company.   eBlaster 3.0 records, then instantly and automatically forwards a copy of  both incoming and outgoing e-mails, including Hotmail, Yahoo! mail, AOL e-mail, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Exchange, Earthlink and Mindspring e-mail. Like the previous version, eBlaster 3.0 will record all Web sites visited, all applications launched and all keystrokes typed, then send an activity report every 60 minutes to a user-specified e-mail address.  This activity report contains both sides of any chat conversation and  instant message, including AOL chat rooms, AOL and MSN Instant Messenger, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger.  Also included are the URL of every Web site visited, every keystroke  (including date and time and actual captured characters) and a summary of all e-mails.    KEY POINTS Go to the SpectorSoft website at  www.spectorsoft.com and look around. www.spectorsoft.com/corporate/profile.html WTGR. permission to quote from ComputingCanada given by publisher Joe Tersigni of itbusiness.ca, the parent company, in May 2005. Copies of emails kept on file in the permissions binder

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Privacy Issues E-mail Filtering

article by Sandra Rubin, senior business writer, in the National Post,  titled "You've got mail, but who else reads it?; E-mail filtering is controversial, but prevalent" Rubin explained that E-mail filtering systems have developed at companies were the excessively large volume of e-mail has created problems for the hardware capacity and as a result there have been investigations as to why volume has been so high. In some companies they read only the subject heading of email to determine the % of personal vs. corporate, in other companies they read the entire message, or use software programs that pick out key words.   KEY POINTS The issue is that companies do this monitoring because they technically can !, whereas they cannot technically evesdrop on everybody's spoken conversation, nor would they be allowed to legally. Since there is not yet clear legislation on the subject of e-mail monitoring (whereas there is legislation on bugging phone lines) companies will exercise the opportunity to do what they want in the vacuum of clear laws on the matter. WTGR. .

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Privacy Issues E-mail  Confidentiality www.echoworx.com

"E-mail's privacy problem" - Public ready for products that assure e-mail privacy By Tyler Hamilton 2004 Aug 30th (first published in the Toronto Star) the full article is PDF'd on echoworx.com's website   www.echoworx.com/news/TorontoStar_04-08-30.pdf Hamilton explains that "Growth in e-mail use has been phenomenal. There are well over a billion active e-mail accounts worldwide, including those hosted by an Internet service provider or offered through a Web-based service such as Yahoo or Hotmail".

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E-mail  Confidentiality

Hamilton says "E-mail,  leaves a digital trail behind that others — your jealous spouse, curious parents, mischievous colleagues or a prying boss — can easily follow. As a text-based medium it can be copied and forwarded to millions of people within minutes. Not only that, copies are stored on ISP servers, corporate servers and in the computers of both the sending and receiving parties, making it easy for people to probe past messages." "As the world moves to wireless through technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, e-mail becomes an even more vulnerable target. Earlier this month [2004 Aug], security experts at a hacker conference in Las Vegas demonstrated a Bluetooth "rifle" that, when aimed at a Bluetooth-enabled mobile device more than a kilometre away, can pluck e-mail messages and other information from the air. Fake e-mail messages could be planted on the device without the owner's knowledge." x permission to quote Hamilton  given by Joanne MacDonald, TORSTAR Syndicate Sales, in an email 2004 Dec 09

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"Service Tracks When E-mail Is Read, How Long and Where" By Kevin Maney 2004 May 20th Maney explains "An existing service called MessageTag can track whether an e-mail was opened. AOL can do the same for e-mail sent to other AOL users. But neither allows the extensive monitoring of DidTheyReadIt.com." "The service comes from Rampell Software of Cambridge, Mass. DidTheyReadIt.com will cost $50 a year. You register on the Web site, and then every time you send an e-mail, you add .didtheyreadit.com to the end. An e-mail address would look like this: president@whitehouse.gov.didtheyreadit.com. The tracking service could be used by job hunters who want to see if their résumés were read, or by salespeople wanting to track pitches." From the website of DidTheyReadIt.com " When you use DidTheyReadIt, e-mails that you send are automatically and invisibly tracked. The instant the recipient opens your message, DidTheyReadIt automatically notifies you. " permission to quote from ecommercetimes.com given by publisher Richard Kern in an email Dec 10th, 2004. Prof. Richardson is also a contributing writer to ecommercetimes.com. Copies of emails kept on file in the permissions binder.

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permission to quote from, and use the EFF material was given by Kathy Ann, webmaster for the EFF in an email Dec 3rd, 2003. Copies of emails kept on file in the permissions binder.

permission to quote from ComputingCanada given by publisher Joe Tersigni of itbusiness.ca, the parent company, in May 2005. Copies of emails kept on file in the permissions binder
 

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