2. ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY
With internet advancing as fast as it is, and the complexity of the
tools to use it ever-growing, it is possible for the everyday user to
maintain their own security on the web? How far does one have to
delve into the underbelly of the world wide web to obtain the privacy
they both want and deserve? The abusive capabilities that today’s
browsers have and the speed at which they can be used is astounding.
3. THE POTENTIAL RISKS
The main issue with maintaining privacy on the internet is the
fact that there are a number of different ways to access the information
necessary to abuse or cause harm to an internet user.
Whether it’s obtaining statistics and browsing information, or
spreading spyware and viruses, the techniques available are almost
effortless and do not take much experience to use.
4. SOCIAL MEDIA
One of the most common outlets for information about a user is
using social media. These websites provide valuable information at the
user’s own expense without necessarily meaning to.
Privacy settings are often secondary and take some navigating
to locate. Sites like Facebook.com for example have your privacy set to
open as a default for new users. They do prompt you to set privacy
settings, but operate them separately for each piece of content. You
may have your main profile page set to be viewed by only people you
have accepted as friends, however your profile pictures could be
viewable.
5. FACE RECOGNIZERS
The frightening thing about social media sites being open about
sharing information is the ability to use face recognizers to match your
face with that of the pictures on your profiles.
Experts were able to prove they could come up with social
insurance numbers with just a web cam, a face recognizer, and an
internet connection. Simple tasks that anyone with the tools can
accomplish.
6. FACE RECOGNIZERS CONT’D
With this same technology identity thieves are using, legitimately
run companies are gathering statistical information about their
customers.
By using the faces captured on their surveillance cameras and
matching them to social media profiles, their personal information can
be gathered and analyzed to better grasp their target audience.
7. PUBLIC PHOTOGRAPHS
Always an eerie thought is someone taking your photograph without
you knowing. Even more creepy is the fact that it’s not against the law in any
way if you’re in a public place.
Anyone has the freedom to capture your face in anyway and alter the
photo however they deem fit to post on the internet, and are only forced to
remove the image from where they posted it if compliance is not received from
the person in the photograph.
Even after the photograph is removed, it can be a lengthy process with
legal action to force the abuser to stop or international laws depending on
where they are located. By that time the damage that the photograph can
cause has already been done, and there’s no way to change the results.
8. HTTP COOKIES
The average user may know the browsers store them on their
computer, but most do not know how HTTP cookies work. An HTTP
cookie is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored on a
user’s computer when they access said website.
Unknowingly to the average internet user, cookies are very
useful in tracking the user’s movements on the website, how frequently
they view the pages, which pages they view the most, etc.
9. HTTP COOKIES CONT’D
The cookies are established to make internet browsing fast and
enjoyable, by decreasing the time it would take to load a page you’ve
previously been on, but there are malicious ways to abuse them.
Tracking cookies allow web profiling, where the user’s browser
history is obtained allowing them to get more personal information on
the user who visited the websites.
10. GOVERNMENT CONTROL
When referring to government control, an overall access and
censorship of the internet by the government to standards they deem fit.
This method of censorship is used by the Chinese Government
to restrict the internet users of their country from uploading any content
they see as negative towards their country.
The same type of idea was almost implemented in the United
States with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act
(PIPA) which was introduced to stop copyright infringement, but in the
end would eliminate all of the user uploaded content and freedom the
internet has to offer.
11. STEPS TO SECURE YOURSELF:
Passwords
Securing your website accounts with strong passwords that
would be difficult to guess or decode. Include capital and small
caps, numbers, and even characters when available.
Choose different passwords for each account so the security
of each is just as tight. If one password is figured out, you would
not want them to then be able to access all of your accounts.
12. STEPS TO SECURE YOURSELF:
Virus Protection
It is paramount that you run a virus protection service on your
computer. There are so many doorways viruses can come
though, and it is not worth the risk not to be safe while connected
to the internet.
Many users have virus protection either preinstalled on the
machine or purchased, but don’t run the automatic updates.
Viruses are developed and updated just as fast as the virus
protection software, so it is vital to maintain up-to-date protection
software.
13. STEPS TO SECURE YOURSELF:
Google Yourself
It sounds strange, but a simple google search of yourself to
see what results come up is a good way to monitor your own
privacy.
There are ways to go about asking google to remove content
from their search engine if you find it inappropriate or slanderous
such as emails or forms in their privacy section of their site.
14. STEPS TO SECURE YOURSELF:
Limit the Content You Share
It might seem redundant to say, but be careful what content
you share on the internet. Information is the key to everything
online, and one piece can lead to a treasure trove of your own
personal identity.
Keep your social media profiles tidy. Sweep the bad stuff
under the rug so to speak and push the content out of sight with
a flood of posts if they’re not possible to remove.
16. OVERALL
It is not impossible to protect yourself from the malicious content
on the internet, but it does take some time and effort. Reading privacy
policies, checking privacy settings, and keeping an eye on what content
comes up in search engines about you.
The best protection is not allowing anything at all, but limiting the
amount of information you share, or using only one credit card for
example will provide better control if anything does go wrong.
Privacy is not dead, but you do have to bury your head in the ground to
stay safe.
17. DISCUSSION QUESTION
What do you think? Is internet privacy dead or is it still possible to
protect yourself?
18. THANK YOU!
Sources:
• Steve Rambam, Privacy is Dead, Get Over It,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaYn_PkrfvQ
• Privacy issues of Social networking sites –
http://www.isaca.org/Groups/Professional-English/security-
trend/GroupDocuments/Social-Media-Wh-Paper-26-May10-Research.pdf
• Discovered the article:
Online photos can reveal our private data say experts - BBC NEWS -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14386514
• Linked to from BBC NEWS:
More Than Facial Recognition - Carnegie Mellon University -
http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/society/2011/summer/facial-recognition.shtml
