TINPOTI: Privacy and Anonymity Have Long Since Disappeared

For more than 10 years I have maintained there is no privacy on the Internet. When a person chooses to enter the electronic age, expectations of privacy and anonymity disappear. Yet Americans want to believe otherwise and politicians yammer and stammer, but have little or no control over metadata, thinking that passing laws to restrict access to the content of communications will insure privacy. NOT!

TINPOTI = There Is No Privacy On The Internet

From the NYTimes June 9, 2013:

"United States laws restrict wiretapping and eavesdropping on the actual content of the communications of American citizens but offer very little protection to the digital data thrown off by the telephone when a call is made. And they offer virtually no protection to other forms of non-telephone-related data like credit card transactions.
Because of smartphones, tablets, social media sites, e-mail and other forms of digital communications, the world creates 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data daily, according to I.B.M.
The company estimates that 90 percent of the data that now exists in the world has been created in just the last two years. From now until 2020, the digital universe is expected to double every two years, according to a study by the International Data Corporation.
Accompanying that explosive growth has been rapid progress in the ability to sift through the information.
When separate streams of data are integrated into large databases — matching, for example, time and location data from cellphones with credit card purchases or E-ZPass use — intelligence analysts are given a mosaic of a person’s life that would never be available from simply listening to their conversations. Just four data points about the location and time of a mobile phone call, a study published in Nature found, make it possible to identify the caller 95 percent of the time."

TINPOTI!

TINPOTI! (There Is No privacy On The Internet).

A friend sent me a summary of all the privacy invasions that are happening or now possible on the Internet...my reply:

I never had expectations of any privacy. Hackers are too clever and corporations mine data to foster marketing and advertising. This has been going on since 'Al Gore invented the internet' and it was commercialized in the 90's.

The pace is picking up as technology improves dramatically and nearly everyone uses the 'net.

Think about the enormous power of the NSA software that can collect, manage, filter and comb through all the data and find actionable nuggets in the counter-terrorism effort. Think, also, how effective (so far)this massive effort has been in preventing a second 9/11 in the U.S.

How much privacy are we willing to trade for security? The answer doesn't matter much because, well...TINPOTI!

Face Recognition Moves From Sci-Fi to Social Media - NYTimes.com

People have no inherent right to anonymity that I can find in our Constitution. Nevertheless, we all hope that we can have it in this electronic age. In my view, our anonymity evaporated the day we ordered Caller ID or began participating on the Internet. You can pretend to be anonymous, but that's a pipe dream given today's data mining technology.

 "...As SceneTap suggests, techniques like facial detection, which perceives human faces but does not identify specific individuals, and facial recognition, which does identify individuals, are poised to become the next big thing for personalized marketing and smart phones. That is great news for companies that want to tailor services to customers, and not so great news for people who cherish their privacy. The spread of such technology — essentially, the democratization of surveillance — may herald the end of anonymity..."

Facial recognition is but one more tool available, now to the masses of cell phone camera users, that drives the nail in coffin of Mr. and Ms Anonymity. Or I suppose we could all wear masks or burkas.

'via Blog this'

Microsoft Introduces Tracking Protection to Its Browser - NYTimes.com

This new capability in Microsoft's IE9 browser, already a fast and efficient piece of technology, is good news for users. Users should have the ability to be tracked or not. Data and information that we generate should always be ours to share or not.

Who Owns and Controls Personal Information & Identities

My position: I own any data that I choose to share with any organization. A company or organization that unduly restricts my access to it or my free choice about how to share it is evil.


This excerpt form The Economist story:

"Both Google and Facebook are run like absolute monarchies in which hundreds of millions of users (digital serfs, some might say) have created identities. Rather like mercantilist countries in the offline realm, both companies operate policies to protect this asset. Google stoked the trade war because it wants to add what it calls a “social layer” to existing products such as picture-sharing and e-mail, making it look more like Facebook. It would help Google if users could bring their contacts to its services from other sites. But Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, wants to keep control of its serfs’ data and therefore stops them exporting contacts easily."

Web Upgrade HTML 5 May Weaken Privacy - NYTimes.com

Web Upgrade HTML 5 May Weaken Privacy - NYTimes.com:

The cycle is never ending. New technology promises greater user convenience and capabilities. While we have an advertising model supporting the 'information wants to be free' expectation of the Internet, that convenience comes with a privacy price.

Please, gurus and privacy wonks, get this as right as you can. I certainly don't want government regulation of this domain. That will be worse than the abuses we may complain about.

"In the next few years, a powerful new suite of capabilities will become available to Web developers that could give marketers and advertisers access to many more details about computer users’ online activities. Nearly everyone who uses the Internet will face the privacy risks that come with those capabilities, which are an integral part of the Web language that will soon power the Internet: HTML 5."

Official Gmail Blog: A new Buzz start-up experience based on your feedback

Official Gmail Blog: A new Buzz start-up experience based on your feedback

Buzz, Google's latest experiment with social media, riled a few users with the privacy issues associated with Buzz' initial appearance with Gmail users. Here's G-'s explanation of changes they have already made and those in the days ahead. I'll bet if they could re-launch Buzz, they'd do it differently.

Perhaps their decisions about how to launch came from too much internal introspection. I should think they'd be using focus groups for such a major change to the capabilities of Gmail, a product used by tens of million and which I dearly love. Google has already intimated that Buzz could be a standalone offering, but I like the fact that it's integrated with Gmail.

If you use Buzz and want to keep who you follow and who follows you from public view, probably the biggest privacy concern for most folks, be sure to change your Google Profile options as described in the link above.

Google Privacy Principles

Google states simply its core privacy principles: More here.

• Use information to provide our users with valuable products and services.
• Develop products that reflect strong privacy standards and practices.
• Make the collection of personal information transparent.
• Give users meaningful choices to protect their privacy.
• Be a responsible steward of the information we hold.

As a big Google user, I can live with this.

Cyberwar - Defying Experts, Rogue Computer Code Still Lurks - Series - NYTimes.com

Cyberwar - Defying Experts, Rogue Computer Code Still Lurks - Series - NYTimes.com:

The internet is the playground for all sorts of ne'er-do-wells. The time will come when hostile governments or terrorist groups will unleash damaging software that will infiltrate and destroy precious information.

There should be no expectation of privacy or anonymity for anyone who is an active internet user. I long ago gave up my expectations in favor of the convenience, power and sheer awe of what's possible online.

Nevertheless, keep your firewalls strong, your backups current and your anti-virus software up to date!!

"...Researchers speculate that the computer could be employed to generate vast amounts of spam; it could steal information like passwords and logins by capturing keystrokes on infected computers; it could deliver fake antivirus warnings to trick naïve users into believing their computers are infected and persuading them to pay by credit card to have the infection removed.

There is also a different possibility that concerns the researchers: That the program was not designed by a criminal gang, but instead by an intelligence agency or the military of some country to monitor or disable an enemy’s computers. Networks of infected computers, or botnets, were used widely as weapons in conflicts in Estonia in 2007 and in Georgia last year, and in more recent attacks against South Korean and United States government agencies. Recent attacks that temporarily crippled Twitter and Facebook were believed to have had political overtones."

Google crashes the smart-grid party | Green Tech - CNET News

Google crashes the smart-grid party | Green Tech - CNET News

Wait until the paranoid privacy wonks get their heads around this. The smart grid/meter will enable Google (do no evil) to remotely monitor every electrical meter. Will the next step be control of the flow of electrons through that meter into a home or business above and beyond the control of the customer?

Think about the implications. People who don't/can't pay their bills would get electricity only during certain hours. If a household used more than the 'acceptable' amount, they would pay exorbitant prices for those extra KWH used at peak times. Of course, this is possible now as an option in some places, but what if it becomes mandatory to 'save the planet?"

This will be a fun debate!

Is Privacy an Antiquated Concept? - The Tech

Is Privacy an Antiquated Concept? - The Tech

What is your expectation of privacy in a digital world? The notion of collective intelligence is gaining traction and currency in our digital world. However, the underlying unstated assumption in this story is that men are basically 'good' and not 'evil.' If you believe that collective intellgence somehow transcends the evil lurking in the world, you have an unrealistic worldview. On the other hand, if mankind was inherently 'good,' there'd be no need for the notion of privacy?

"...These kinds of things transcend party lines. Congress doesn’t use the internet and doesn’t understand the Internet the way our generation does, and by extension, they don’t understand the power of collective intelligence. It has nothing to do with how capable or intelligent our congressmen and women are — it’s a simple function of how they grew up understanding information, technology, and privacy.

The past 15 years have arguably seen more change in those three aspects of society than the half-century before. Trusting these people to regulate something they don’t, and cannot understand, like digital privacy, is a risky road to go down."

And this...

"The ease with which a thief can steal your identity is a largely a function of how much information it is “normal” to divulge. So while you may have been shocked if a stranger approached you in 1994 and told you your birthday, hometown, high school, and favorite movie, it would be thoroughly unremarkable in 2009.

Privacy may very well be something wholly temporary, and that’s not a bad thing. The sooner we stop trying to impose 20th century standards of privacy on 21st century technologies like collective intelligence, the better."

Google Docs and Spreadsheets

Google spyware? Fine by me… by ZDNet's Christopher Dawson -- A reader of one of my last posts, "Google Presentations…one more step in the right direction", did not share my enthusiasm for Google Apps: "More Google spyware One more way for Google to build their database about you. Or, you could just use Google for search, and keep their database at that!" I have to say, however, [...]

I haven't taken the leap to Google Apps on my own domain, but I avidly use the components, Gmail, Docs and Spreadsheets, and Calendar. I find them all to be compelling tools for what I do. I agree with the post above. I have long ago relinquished the idea of anonymity while using the Web or its services. A person should have no illusions that how s/he uses the Internet is strictly private. I won't let privacy paranoia interfere with efficiency and ease of use.

I find the convenience and usefulness of the tools (did I mention free?) overwhelmingly more beneficial than the fact that information about my search and use patterns lives on Google servers subject to review, analysis and even subpoena. However, I do not entrust my most sensitive documents to unencrypted external servers. I want them available on my PC or in a safe deposit box in hard copy, or both.

Although I'm looking forward to the release of Windows Home Server later this year, I remain a fan of storing and sharing docs online. I also believe that Web 2.0 apps are still in their infancy and will grow exponentially, particularly as mobile broadband expands.

Group Tries to Block Program Giving Data to U.S. - New York Times

Group Tries to Block Program Giving Data to U.S. - New York Times

One wonders if Privacy International is on the terrorists' payroll. These complaints deserve to be deposited in the global trash bin.