Re: Privacy Prtection on the Internet

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Dave Wilson" <dave () wilson net>
Date: August 13, 2008 10:49:21 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Privacy Prtection on the Internet

I would agree that providers have generally paid only lip service to
the concept of privacy (which I think is the point of the article),
but I would also argue that, absent a search warrant it's trivial to
shield your identity in cyberspace; it's arguably easier to do things
anonymously in cyberspace than it is in meatspace (with the single
exception of making a purchase, though with the new "buy an anonymized
mastercard gift card at the drug store" phenomenon, that's becoming
pretty easy too).

What I worry about is that this ability to be anonymous when we choose
to be will be going away soon, spurred by (legitimate) concerns that a
lack of authentication online will lead to a host of troubles. But
having the ability to authenticate is quite different from requiring
authentication at all times for all users....

-dave

On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 8:49 AM, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:
> Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Atkinson, Robert" <rca53 () columbia edu>
> Date: August 13, 2008 8:47:04 AM EDT
> To: <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Privacy Prtection on the Internet
> Dave,
>
> For IP? From an article in today's Wall Street Journal,
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121860037764836165.html (the
> on-line headline is from another article on the same page of the print
> edition) concerning the YouTube-Viacom dispute:
>
> > Nonetheless, some experts say the Web has never been a place where  
> > privacy
> > is protected.
>
> > Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School, says that the  
> > average
> > Internet user is living increasingly >in a "panopticon-like"  
> > environment,
> > where Web users can be observed without being able to tell whether  
> > they >are
> > being watched. Internet protocol addresses are extraordinarily  
> > efficient
> > fingerprints, says Mr. Lessig. "So >anybody who thinks you're going  
> > to get
> > on the Web and be anonymous is just ignorant about the way the >Web
> > functions."
>
> I'm not sure that Prof. Lessig's quote supports the reporter's  
> conclusion
> that "the Web has never been a place where privavcy is protected"  
> but it
> does raise the question about whether citizens should reasonably  
> expect
> privacy on the Internet.  The implication is that the "reasonable
> expectation of privacy" on the web is (or will be?) no greater, for  
> example,
> than the expectation of privacy in public areas.  That would be a  
> problem.
> I'd be interested in hearing from privacy advocates how to stop the  
> internet
> from sliding on the "slippery slope" of expectations to being the  
> electronic
> equivalent of the public street (or village green).
>
> Bob
>
> ________________________________
> Archives




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