Britain has been called the ‘Surveillance Society’. Justified by the need for security, there is a proliferation of surveillance cameras. Records of all telephone calls are kept in data bases. Tracking of all e-mails is forthcoming:
It is a tradition. NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracks Santa on Christmas Eve, through the North American air space. This Christmas tradition started in 1955 through a misprint:
It may be the most famous toolkit in history - and likely the most expensive. The toolkit that was lost by astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper is worth a reported hundred thousand dollars. The bag of tools has presented a challenge to professional and amateur astronomers:
Authorities in Canada are trying to reassure the public that tracking bridge traffic and privacy can co-exist:
“As the first electronically tolled bridge in western Canada, slated for completion in spring 2009, it will be equipped with toll sensors and digital cameras to track the identification of every vehicle that travels on the one-kilometre span.
But TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said people shouldn’t worry about their privacy being invaded.”
link: Vehicles will be tracked, but privacy will be guarded on Golden Ears Bridge, TransLink says
It appears that, theoretically, only the police and billing agents will have access to the tracking data. TransLink does not state how long these records in this data base will be maintained. Further, there seems to be a fundamental difference in the interpretation of the term ‘privacy’. Mr Hardie reassures that privacy will not be invaded. Unfortunately, the surveillance, recording and tracking of citizens is, in itself, an invasion of privacy.
Catherine Forsythe
Phorm is the system where advertisers can track internet use for the purposes of directing targeted promotional messages:
“…But any future deployments of the system must be done with consent and make it easy for people to opt out.
The European Union had demanded clarification about the system which tracks web habits in order to provide better targeted ads.”
link: UK government responds on Phorm
The priorities of these guidelines appear to be backward. Phorm is a system that intrudes on the internet user’s privacy, with possible security implications. To initiate the system with an “opt out” provision means that people have to be proactive and remove themselves from being served target advertising. The optimal way for participation would be to allow people to “opt in” - and allow the default be that not every user can be possibly tracked. The “opt in” system has an obvious flaw. It does not allow for those who want to track internet use to maximize their financial gain.
Catherine Forsythe
In the name of efficient surveillance, hooded sweatshirts are banned from some New Jersey schools:
“…The schools say students wearing hoods can conceal their identities from hallway cameras that might catch them cutting class or breaking into a locker.”
link: Some NJ Schools Ban Students From Wearing Hoodies
Along that line of thinking then, caps, rain gear, parkas, anoraks and an endless list of other clothing would be forbidden. Perhaps if the students complain, the authorities can tell them that it is not as bad as wearing radio frequency identification chips (RFID) and being tracked every moment of the day.
Catherine Forsythe
One of the goals of advertisers is to deliver relevant advertising. If the advertising is meaningful to your personal interests, then it significantly increases the probability of success. Advertisers want to enlist the assistance of internet service providers (ISP) in tracking user interests. One objection is that this type of monitoring is an infringement of privacy and security.
Anick Jesdanun has reported that there have been pilot testing of targeted advertising.
What is disturbing is that there is a wide disparity on how (or if) internet users were informed that they were under surveillance:
The internet providers may be adhering to the letter of the law. They may be following their service agreements or making their activities known. However, it is done with a minimum of public notice. There would be greater reaction if customers knew that their online activities were tracked. In this case, a minimum of publicity is preferred. There are huge dollars involved.
Catherine Forsythe
The aftermath of a lost or stolen laptop could result in a security nightmare. The financial consequence could be extreme with millions of dollars being spent to safeguard breached data bases from being used for identity theft. Adeona addresses that security issue:
“…Adeona, they said, is the world’s first free, open-source laptop-tracking system, and one that can be installed by users themselves, and which doesn’t require a corporate intermediary.
…With Adeona, however, a user needs only install a piece of free, downloadable, software on their computer, and then make sure to make a copy of a credential key that the software provides and that they must keep on, say, a thumb drive, and which is required to track the laptop if it’s stolen.”
link: An open-source approach to tracking stolen laptops
There are commercial enterprises that offer comparable services. However, there is a loss of privacy involved. Further, Adeona may have the advantage of being widely used simply because it is free.
Catherine Forsythe
Early this month, there was a recommended for Memuse in this space. One of the commenters, Fred, mentioned another application to consider. Here is what Fred said:
“I use SysTrayMeter, it’s great : both CPU and memory usage in a little SysTray icon, nothing more. I love it, and it’s only uses 800K!”
link: SysTrayMeter
As with all programs recommended here, this application has been reviewed by a team of nine people. All the assessments are positive. Of course, the usual disclaimers apply.
SysTrayMeter is freeware and provides the necessary RAM and CPU usage information. - Thanks, Fred; your recommendation is much appreciated.
Catherine
The methodology is called “behavioural advertising”. The more that an advertiser knows about you means there is greater chance that advertising focused on your interests will be successful. On the internet, that means tracking where you go and what you do. It is monitoring your browsing habits. And advertisers will justify the behaviour as being beneficial to you because it makes for a relevant internet experience… and one that is a bit more creepy too.
For many internet users, the tracking of online behaviour is unauthorized surveillance. There are implications of invasion of privacy and it raises security issues. Facebook used such a paradigm with its Beacon program and now it has a class action lawsuit on its hands:
“Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, is facing a class action lawsuit charging that its controversial advertising program violated online privacy and computer fraud laws.”
link: Suit says Facebook ad program invaded privacy
There will be a segment of the internet community that will minimize the importance of such litigation. For them, this is a meaningless because they will argue that they have “nothing to hide” and that they do not do anything online that they need to conceal.
That is not the point.
A real life analogy would be that someone looks in your snail mail to see what your interests are. Then advertising is served to you to match those interests. Your weekly trash is inspected to see what is being used in the household. And then suitable advertising is served to match your buying preferences. Your purchases at the pharmacy are monitored to see what over the counter medication or prescribed drugs are being used. Then relevant drug advertising is presented with the intent of helping you make wise purchasing decisions.
The analogy can continue. However, the salient point to remember is that this is done without your permission. Even the “nothing to hide” segment of the population might find such monitoring to be somewhat unsettling - and perhaps just plain creepy.
Catherine Forsythe
