Module 5: Anonymity, Security, Privacy and Civil Liberties

1. Module 5: Anonymity, Security, Privacy and Civil Liberties • Introduction • Anonymity • Security • Privacy • Ethical and Social Issues Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

2. Introduction • Information has increased in value • The demand for information is high due to: • High digitalization of information and increasing bandwidth. • Declining costs of digital communication. • Increased miniaturization of portable computers and other communications equipment. • Greater public awareness by the news media of the potential abuse of digital communication, especially the Internet. • The danger for misuse is real Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

3. Anonymity • Absence of identity • There are two types of identity: • Pseudo • Untraceable • Anonymity on the Internet • Email • Other postings Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

4. Security • Means to prevent unauthorized access • Consists of: • Confidentiality - to prevent unauthorized disclosure of information to third parties. • Integrity - to prevent unauthorized modification of files and maintain the status quo • Availability -: to prevent unauthorized withholding of information from those who need it when they need it. • Physical security – guaranteed by: • Deterrence • Prevention • Detection • Response Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

5. Security… • Perimeter security • Fence • Dog • Guards • Firewalls • Proxy - individual client requests conform to the pre-set conditions, then the firewall acts on the request • Filter -these are packet-level filters • Stateful Inspection: These firewalls combine the filter and proxy functionalities. • Passwords Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

6. Information Security • Encryption • Plaintext • Ciphertext • Types: • Symmetric (fig 5.1) • Asymmetric (fig 5.2) Encryption standards • RSA • DES • PEMS • PGP • Authentication (fig 5.3) Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

7. Privacy • Human value consists of: • Right to control external influences on individual information: • Solitude - right to be alone • Anonymity – right to have no public identity • Intimacy – right not to be monitored • Right to control personal information: • Reserve – right to control one’s information Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

8. Value of Privacy • Safeguard personal identity • Preserve individual autonomy in decision-making • Less known information,more autonomy • Support social relationships • Worthiness Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

9. Information Gathering, Databases, and Privacy • Who has your name on a list and what they're doing with it? • companies you have done business with. • Individuals • Government agencies • The U.S. Graham-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act - protect the customer through three requirements that the institutions must disclose to us: • Privacy Policy: through which the institution is bound to tell us the types of information the institution collects and has about us and how it uses that information. • Right to Opt-Out: through which the institution is bound to explain our recourse to prevent the transfer of our data to third party beneficiaries. • Safeguards: through which the institution must put in place policies to prevent fraudulent access to confidential financial information. Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

10. Opt-in/Opt-out • The Opt-in clause, which was not included in the Act despite strong support from privacy and consumer activists, would have prohibited a financial institution from sharing or selling our data without our consent. • The opt-out option, which eventually was included in the Act after, the opt-in clause lost, gives us, the customers, implied consent, if we fail to return the Opt-out notices above sent to us by these institutions. Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

11. Privacy Violations • Intrusion – wrongful entry ( hacking) • Misuse of information • we involuntarily give off personal information • businesses collect it • Interception of information • eavesdropping • Surveillance • Echelon/TEMPEST • Information matching using unrelated databases -usually illegally Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

12. Privacy Protection • Is it possible? -Rapid advances in computer technology, and in particular the advent of the Internet, have all created an environment where detailed information on individuals and products can very easily and cheaply be moved, merged, marched, compared and shared. • Guidelines and structures that safeguard and protected privacy rights. • These structures and guideline, on the average fall under the following categories: • Technical - through the use of software and other technical based safeguards and also education of users and consumers to carry out self-regulation. • contractual –through which information like electronic publication and how such information is disseminated are given contractual and technological protection against unauthorized reproduction or distribution. • legal – through the enactment of laws by national legislatures and enforcement of such laws by the law enforcement agencies. (see pp. 118 - 119) • Through individual efforts ( be vigilant) Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza

13. Ethical and Social Issues • The ethics of privacy - with the advent of the Internet and electronic messages, confidentiality is a great concern. Computer technology has raised more privacy questions than it has found answers to • The ethics of security - the Internet is an insecure communications channel when it is used by a criminal. Ethical and Social...J.M.Kizza