Internet Privacy

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Internet Privacy Security

• A Presentation to WPI Student Pugwash
• Michael J. Ciaraldi
• Professor of Practice, WPI Computer Science
• 2003/10/02

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Why Are You Here Tonight?

• Instead of at the CLICK meeting.

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Pugwash Ideals

• to bring scientific insight and reason to bear
  on threats to human security arising from science
  and technology in general
• pursued through debate, discussion and
  collaborative analysis in an atmosphere of candor
  and mutual respect
• From the Pugwash Mission Statement

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Be Glad Youre in College

• You can discuss any topic
• You can express any opinion
• And nobody will try to kill you.
• You dont have that freedom in the real world.

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Internet Privacy and Security

• A huge topic.
• Tonight An overview and some details.
• Mostly on privacy.

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Tradeoffs

• Identify them.
• Analyze them.
• Make rational choices.

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Whom Do You Fear Most?

• The Government?
• Big business?
• Criminals with your private data?
• Criminals in general.
• Including terrorists, fanatics, etc.

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A Quote

• Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts
  absolutely.
• -- Lord Acton.

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Another Quote

• The right of the people to be secure in their
  persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
  unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
  violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
  probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation,
  and particularly describing the place to be
  searched, and the persons or things to be
  seized.
• -- Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution

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One More Quote

• Big Brother Is Watching You.
• --George Orwell, 1984.

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Kinds of Information on You

• Demographic
• Race, religion, ethnicity, disability
• Financial
• Salary, credit history, bankruptcy, debts
• Associates
• Buying habits
• Rentals
• Reading
• Medical

• Web surfing
• Credit card
• Memberships
• Purchases
• Email
• Newsgroups
• Grades Degrees
• Employment
• Arrests
• Passwords

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Where Is This Information?

• Paper and electronic
• Company, government, organization, school.
• Various groups and levels

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Where Does This Info Come From?

• Public records.
• Internal records.
• Forms you fill out.
• Reports from others.

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Questions

• How accurate is this info?
• Is it up-to-date?
• Can you find out what it is?
• Can you find out if someone is using it?
• Can you correct and/or comment on it?
• Is it even about you?

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It Gets Worse (or Better)When Electronic

• Easier to find data.
• Easier to correlate.
• Quakers of Lithuanian descent who read books on
  fireworks.

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What Bad Can Happen?

• Persecuted by government.
• Targeted by criminals.
• Targeted by protesters.
• Job discrimination.
• Loan discrimination.
• Denied insurance.
• Deluged by junk mail.

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What Good Can Happen?

• Job qualifications confirmed.
• Criminals barred from sensitive jobs.
• Fugitives caught.
• Kidnap victims found.
• Medical history and interactions.
• E911 cellphone location.

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What Safeguards Are There?

• Government inter-agency sharing.
• Census statistics.
• Search warrant / subpoena.
• Privacy policies.
• Right to examine and correct credit history.

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A Few Things You Can Do

• Examine company privacy policies.
• Submit minimal information.
• Maintain separate email accounts.
• Use mail encryption, SSL, SSH, VPN, etc.
• Stimulate public debate.

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Some Questions

• What information should the government
  legitimately have about people?
• What information should companies legitimately
  have about people?
• What information should schools legitimately have
  about people?

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Some Harder Questions

• What freedoms are you willing to give up?
• To have security.
• To preserve other freedoms.
• Who gets to decide?

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Thank You!