E-PRIVACY: YOU DON'T HAVE ANY.
Here's the problem: Everyone knows that reading
someone else's mail is a federal crime. Yet reading someone else’s e-mail -
isn't. Demanding someone to turn over financial records requires a search
warrant, but hacking into their computer to look at what they processed in
their tax software isn't. Although actions that take place over the Internet
are the same as those that take place in the virtual world are essentially the
same - the laws that govern them are often very different.
Governments are also reluctant sometimes to pass legislation that protects consumers and citizens privacy rights over the Internet simply because they reserve the right to violate privacy rights too. But you don't have to live in a banana republic to experience cyber-intrusions and rights violations by both the bad guy's AND the government. Germany for example has been intercepting business and private Internet communications since July 2003.
The German Finance Ministry doesn't trust German citizen e-tax returns, and so in an effort to see if they are running "two books", they routinely pry into their business and home computers to see if there is any accounting software that might show otherwise. If there are any discrepancies, Germans can expect the tax man to pay them a visit, confiscate their computers and conduct an audit.
The government of Saudi Arabia controls the Internet gateway of it’s entire county. Whenever the Saudi King decides to separate his country from the GIG (Global Internet Grid) for whatever reason - said everywhere to be in the citizens own best interest of course - he can do so at his discretion, at anytime and without warning.
Many countries have similar laws, capabilities and knowledge on how to check-up on their citizens, and in some instances, they even cross International borders committing espionage. They don’t do it because it is right, but because they can. But if you think were safe in the U.S.A. just because we have a constitution, think again. Every time a crime is committed, we have the capability of using cell phone records and computer search records to place suspects at the scene of a crime, gather data and build a case, but beyond that there are no self-policing laws or internal policies that would prevent such actions from being taken against innocent citizens at large for other more questionable reasons.
Recently, universities have been offering a free campus alert system that (supposedly) would send each student, staffer and faculty an alert SMS whenever there is a threat such as a "shooter on campus" for campus lock down and taking cover. Although this seems like a great idea that could save lives, unfortunately it involves the use and misuse of related Global Positioning System (GPS) technology that not only tells law enforcement the exact location of the shooter, but also reveals the exact location in real time of everyone else - at all times.
The initial justification would be of course the fact that knowing the exact location of a shooter on campus would greatly benefit SWAT teams in the quick apprehension of said individual(s), but this comes at the expense of tracking the exact location of everyone else 24/7, for other unknown reasons whether there will ever be a shooter incident or not.
Now while a parent has a right to subscribe to a cell phone GPS tracking service to know where their child is at all times during the day, the parents of university students, staff and faculty do not. Furthermore, the alert system is not entirely explained when advertised on campus. Only the benefits of the alert service are explained, thereby leaving no known additional reasons for the subscriber to fully weigh and consider in exchange for disclosing their whereabouts 24/7, when and if there will ever be a shooter on campus. There are no known "full disclosure" laws for such services at this time.
So as you can see, not only are Orwellian times a possibility of the future, but already a reality of the present, with governments, corporations and organizations everywhere capitalizing on citizens computer illiteracy to push bad legislation. Moral of the story is - if someone wants to trick you into signing up for a service or offer you a technology to do your job better, pay your taxes faster and/or make your life more convenient - you can be sure it is a double edged sword that robs you of your constitutional rights to privacy through covert "search and seizure" over the Internet.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take and things you can do to guard some of your privacy some of the time without having to be a criminal or having something to hide. Reply here with a question or comment and I will answer you for free.
Governments are also reluctant sometimes to pass legislation that protects consumers and citizens privacy rights over the Internet simply because they reserve the right to violate privacy rights too. But you don't have to live in a banana republic to experience cyber-intrusions and rights violations by both the bad guy's AND the government. Germany for example has been intercepting business and private Internet communications since July 2003.
The German Finance Ministry doesn't trust German citizen e-tax returns, and so in an effort to see if they are running "two books", they routinely pry into their business and home computers to see if there is any accounting software that might show otherwise. If there are any discrepancies, Germans can expect the tax man to pay them a visit, confiscate their computers and conduct an audit.
The government of Saudi Arabia controls the Internet gateway of it’s entire county. Whenever the Saudi King decides to separate his country from the GIG (Global Internet Grid) for whatever reason - said everywhere to be in the citizens own best interest of course - he can do so at his discretion, at anytime and without warning.
Many countries have similar laws, capabilities and knowledge on how to check-up on their citizens, and in some instances, they even cross International borders committing espionage. They don’t do it because it is right, but because they can. But if you think were safe in the U.S.A. just because we have a constitution, think again. Every time a crime is committed, we have the capability of using cell phone records and computer search records to place suspects at the scene of a crime, gather data and build a case, but beyond that there are no self-policing laws or internal policies that would prevent such actions from being taken against innocent citizens at large for other more questionable reasons.
Recently, universities have been offering a free campus alert system that (supposedly) would send each student, staffer and faculty an alert SMS whenever there is a threat such as a "shooter on campus" for campus lock down and taking cover. Although this seems like a great idea that could save lives, unfortunately it involves the use and misuse of related Global Positioning System (GPS) technology that not only tells law enforcement the exact location of the shooter, but also reveals the exact location in real time of everyone else - at all times.
The initial justification would be of course the fact that knowing the exact location of a shooter on campus would greatly benefit SWAT teams in the quick apprehension of said individual(s), but this comes at the expense of tracking the exact location of everyone else 24/7, for other unknown reasons whether there will ever be a shooter incident or not.
Now while a parent has a right to subscribe to a cell phone GPS tracking service to know where their child is at all times during the day, the parents of university students, staff and faculty do not. Furthermore, the alert system is not entirely explained when advertised on campus. Only the benefits of the alert service are explained, thereby leaving no known additional reasons for the subscriber to fully weigh and consider in exchange for disclosing their whereabouts 24/7, when and if there will ever be a shooter on campus. There are no known "full disclosure" laws for such services at this time.
So as you can see, not only are Orwellian times a possibility of the future, but already a reality of the present, with governments, corporations and organizations everywhere capitalizing on citizens computer illiteracy to push bad legislation. Moral of the story is - if someone wants to trick you into signing up for a service or offer you a technology to do your job better, pay your taxes faster and/or make your life more convenient - you can be sure it is a double edged sword that robs you of your constitutional rights to privacy through covert "search and seizure" over the Internet.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take and things you can do to guard some of your privacy some of the time without having to be a criminal or having something to hide. Reply here with a question or comment and I will answer you for free.
Posted by Moderator at 4/21/2009 6:06 AM 
Categories: Technology,Politics
Tags: privacy internet search seizure alert gps
Categories: Technology,Politics
Tags: privacy internet search seizure alert gps
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