Internet privacy
The revelation of IP addresses, non-personally-identifiable profiling, and similar information might become acceptable trade-offs for the convenience that users could otherwise lose using the workarounds needed to suppress such details rigorously.
When filling out forms and buying merchandise, information is tracked and because it is not private, some companies send Internet users spam and advertising on similar products.
In an article presented by the FTC, in October 2011, a number of pointers were brought to attention that help an individual Internet user avoid possible identity theft and other cyber-attacks.
Preventing or limiting the usage of Social Security numbers online, being wary and respectful of emails including spam messages, being mindful of personal financial details, creating and managing strong passwords, and intelligent web-browsing behaviours are recommended, among others.
Adobe's Flash and (PDF) Reader are not the only browser plugins whose past security defects[32] have allowed spyware or malware to be installed: there have also been problems with Oracle's Java.
[33] Evercookie, created by Samy Kamkar,[34][35] is a JavaScript-based application which produces cookies in a web browser that actively "resist" deletion by redundantly copying themselves in different forms on the user's machine (e.g., Flash Local Shared Objects, various HTML5 storage mechanisms, window.name caching, etc.
[39] Never-cookies eliminate the entire manual deletion process while keeping the cookies users want like browsing history and saved account information.
This may allow a service provider to detect and prevent identity theft and credit card fraud, but also to compile long-term records of individuals' browsing histories even when they're attempting to avoid tracking, raising a major concern for Internet privacy advocates.
In an article featured in ABC News, it was stated that two teams of scientists found out that Hollywood stars could be giving up information about their private whereabouts very easily through pictures uploaded to the Internet.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University combined image scanning, cloud computing and public profiles from social networking sites to identify individuals in the offline world.
Although Street View began to blur license plates and people's faces in 2008,[60] the technology is faulty and does not entirely ensure against accidental disclosure of identity and private property.
[61] The researchers note that "many of the concerns leveled at Street View stem from situations where its photograph-like images were treated as definitive evidence of an individual's involvement in particular activities.
Web 2.0 is the system that facilitates participatory information sharing and collaboration on the Internet, in social networking media websites like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and MySpace.
An increasing number of individuals are becoming aware of the potential risks associated with sharing personal information online and placing trust in websites to maintain privacy.
What makes this difficult is the wide range of opinions surrounding the topic, so it is left mainly up to individual judgment to respect other people's online privacy in some circumstances.
[92] They state that by documenting new capabilities in an open standardization process, rather than through closed source plug-ins made by companies, it is easier to spot flaws in specifications and cultivate expert advice.
[88] Content Security Policy is a proposed standard whereby sites may assign privileges to different domains, enforcing harsh limitations on JavaScript use to mitigate cross-site scripting attacks.
Contrary to popular belief, browser privacy mode does not prevent (all) tracking attempts because it usually only blocks the storage of information on the visitor site (cookies).
[116] Search Engines According to Nicklas Lundblad, another perspective on privacy protection is the assumption that the quickly growing amount of information produced will be beneficial.
With more than fifty percent of the supporting servers located in the United States, this underground economy has become a haven for Internet thieves, who use the system in order to sell stolen information.
[125] With the overall public anxiety regarding the constantly expanding trend of online crimes, in 2001 roughly fifty-four percent of Americans polled showed a general approval for the FBI monitoring those emails deemed suspicious.
This figure in collaboration with the majority's approval of FBI intervention demonstrates an emerging emphasis on the issue of Internet privacy in society and more importantly, the potential implications it may hold on citizens' lives.
Individuals with access to private digital connections that have protective services are able to more easily prevent data privacy risks of personal information and surveillance issues.
Members of historically marginalized communities face greater risks of surveillance through the process of data profiling, which increases the likelihood of being stereotyped, targeted, and exploited, thus exacerbating pre-existing inequities that foster uneven playing fields.
These tools and other means of data collection can also prohibit historically marginalized and low-income groups from financial services regulated by the state, such as securing loans for house mortgages.
[138] Irrespective of the pending ePrivacy-Regulation, the European High Court decided in October 2019 (case C-673/17[139]) that the current law is not fulfilled if the disclosed information in the cookie disclaimer is imprecise, or if the consent checkbox is pre-checked.
Yahoo provided incriminating records of the journalist's account logins to the Chinese government and Shi Tao was sentenced to ten years in prison.
File sharing has been illegal in Sweden since it was developed, however, there was never any real fear of being persecuted for the crime until 2009 when the Swedish Parliament was the first in the European Union to pass the intellectual property rights directive.
"[149] With the Republicans in control of all three branches of the U.S. government, lobbyists for Internet service providers (ISPs) and tech firms persuaded lawmakers to dismantle regulations to protect privacy which had been made during the Obama administration.
These FCC rules had required ISPs to get "explicit consent" before gathering and selling their private Internet information, such as the consumers' browsing histories, locations of businesses visited and applications used.
