CS 40 - Lecture 17
David S. Taylor
Privacy and Technology
- What is privacy?
- How does technology threaten our privacy?
- Why are computers a substantial risk to privacy?
- How does society respond across the world?
Example: Brandeis and Warren
The narrower doctrine [of privacy] may have satisfied the demands of
society at a time when the abuse to be guarded against could rarely have
arisen without violating a contract or a special confidence; but now that
modern devices afford abundant opportunities for the
perpetration of such wrongs without any participation by the injured party,
the protection granted by the law must be placed upon a broader
foundation.
Example: Brandeis and Warren
The narrower doctrine [of privacy] may have satisfied the demands of
society at a time when the abuse to be guarded against could rarely have
arisen without violating a contract or a special confidence; but now that
modern devices afford abundant opportunities for the
perpetration of such wrongs without any participation by the injured party,
the protection granted by the law must be placed upon a broader
foundation.
While, for instance, the state of the photographic art was such that
one's picture could seldom be taken without his consciously "sitting" for
the purpose, the law of contract or of trust might afford the prudent man
sufficient safeguards against the improper circulation of his portrait; but
since the latest advances in photographic art have rendered it
possible to take pictures surreptitiously, the doctrines of
contract and of trust are inadequate to support the required
protection...
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/compliance/guidance/privacy/privacyright.html
Example: Brandeis and Warren: Harvard Law Review, 1890
The narrower doctrine [of privacy] may have satisfied the demands of
society at a time when the abuse to be guarded against could rarely have
arisen without violating a contract or a special confidence; but now that
modern devices afford abundant opportunities for the
perpetration of such wrongs without any participation by the injured party,
the protection granted by the law must be placed upon a broader
foundation.
While, for instance, the state of the photographic art was such that
one's picture could seldom be taken without his consciously "sitting" for
the purpose, the law of contract or of trust might afford the prudent man
sufficient safeguards against the improper circulation of his portrait; but
since the latest advances in photographic art have rendered it
possible to take pictures surreptitiously, the doctrines of
contract and of trust are inadequate to support the required
protection...
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/compliance/guidance/privacy/privacyright.html
Defining Privacy
- Privacy is the right to be alone--the most comprehensive of rights,
and the right most valued by civilized man. -- Louis Brandeis
- What is an invasion of privacy?
- watching what you read, what you buy, with whom you meet
- embarrassing you with sins of the distant past
- smearing you by judging from partial personal information
- stealing from you by misappropriating your identity
The Invaders
- Businesses
- Government
- Thieves
- Personal enemies
The Tools
- Databases
- Tracking online activities
- Surveillance
Databases
- Before computers: paper files, searching was time-consuming
- Now: Files can be searched in seconds
- Now: Databases can be linked together
- Now: It is cheaper to store than to purge
The Social Security Number
- Developed in 1936 for administering social security benefits (duh)
- Originally not intended for identification purpose
- Mission creep: taxpayer ID, military ID, ID for dependent minors,
student ID, driver license ID, etc. etc.
- Used to link databases
- Easy target for identity theft
- Sometimes available on public records (divorce, SEC filings)
- Can you refuse to give to non-government agencies?
Lab: Social Security Numbers
- Google for "find social security number"
- Look for sites that promise to find a social security number from a
name
- Pick a service that looks reasonable.
- What is the URL? What do they charge? What else do they promise to find
out about a person ActiveLecture.org
Credit Reporting
- Collect bank data, credit card payment info, bad debts, etc.
- Industry dominated by Experian, TransUnion, Equifax
- Used for screening applicants for loans, employment, apartments,
etc.
- You are entitled to one free credit report per year
(annualcreditreport.com)
- Very difficult to correct mistakes
TSA Flight Database
- Goal: Make sure terrorists don't get on airplanes
- No Fly List: estimated to be 50,000 names
- Assembled from FBI, commercial, airline data
- Many "false positives", most famously Sen. Edward Kennedy
- No legal way to find out who is on, or why
Example: No Fly List
Professor Walter F Murphy is emeritus of Princeton University; he is one
of the foremost constitutional scholars in the nation and author of the
classic Constitutional Democracy. Murphy is also a decorated former
marine, and he is not even especially politically liberal. But on March 1
2007, he was denied a boarding pass at Newark, "because I was on
the Terrorist Watch list".
"Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying
because of that," asked the airline employee.
"I explained," said Murphy, "that I had not so marched but had, in
September 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the web,
highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the
constitution."
"That'll do it," the man said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html
Tracking Online Activities
- “Cookies”, online ads track your browsing activity
- Google stores your searches
- Google, Yahoo, Flickr, Facebook, store all the data you provide when
you use their services
- Merchants store your purchase history
- DRM tracks “protected content”: purchased songs, books,
games, etc.
- Microsoft tracks your Windows serial number, update activity, installed
software
- Everyone shares data with everyone
Lab: So What?
With your buddy, write one potential problem that you see with tracking
your online activities.
ActiveLecture.org
Lab: Privacy Policies
Find the privacy policy of your favorite online service (iTunes, Amazon,
Yahoo!, whatever...)
What do they promise not to share with anyone
else?
ActiveLecture.org
Surveillance
- RFID: Tiny tags can be read remotely
- Terrorists can read the passport in your handbag
- GPS in cell phones, cars
- Employers, parents, spouses use them for location monitoring
- Rental car companies fine renters who went too fast, too far
- Toll tags
- New York divorce lawyer Jacalyn Barnet: "an easy way to show you
took the off-ramp to adultery."
- Google
Street View Adultery Case
Your Legal Rights in the U.S.
- The constitution does not mention privacy
- Civil law's 4 torts:
- Appropriation of Name or Likeness
- Intrusion into Secluded Space
- Public Disclosure of Private Facts
- Putting someone in a “False Light”
- Federal Law: Few and narrow protections (drivers licenses, video rental
records, student records)
Privacy Around the World
- Universal declaration of human rights: No one shall be subjected to
arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence,
nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to
the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
- European Union: EU constitution, directives obligate member nations to
pass relatively strong privacy laws
EPIC/Privacy International rankings
- 1. Germany 3.9 (out of 5)
- 2. Canada 3.6,
- 6. Argentina 3.0
- 28. Israel 2.2
- 30. United States 2.0
- 31. Thailand 1.9
- 36. People's Republic of China 1.3
Resources
Conclusion
- Most people feel they should have a right to privacy
- Technology works against privacy: surveillance, storage, search
- Business, governments, criminals have large appetite for data
- Laws in the United States well behind the industrialized world
- Want better laws? Only if you make your voice heard
Reminders
- Email me another progress report of your project by Friday, 11/20
- If your proposal was vague, send me a more specific version
- Did you start writing any code? If not, when do you plan to start?