Privacy on the Internet
By Susan C. Awe -- Library Journal, 10/01/2000
Preserving one's privacy on the World Wide Web is a daunting task. For example, just clicking on a banner or link provides a web site with an IP address identifying the computer and the computer's host name -- often a good hint to the physical location. If you input personal data at a site, the data may be carried by a persistent cookie to other web sites, without the user's knowledge.
The web has redefined the relationship between our private lives and the public sphere. Even hackers can't always cover their tracks. Federal standards for Internet privacy are under debate and development, but for now it's up to e-businesses, not all of which care about privacy, and consumer efforts to protect their personal data from zealous marketers, con artists, and government agencies. As a report from the Pew Internet Project (see below) states, Internet users want a guarantee of online privacy but often are unaware of how privacy invasions take place.
Two recent books -- The Unwanted Gaze (Random, 2000) by Jeffrey Rosen and The Hundredth Window (Free Pr., 2000) by TRUSTe founders Charles Jennings and Lori Fena -- make convincing arguments about the privacy risks associated with the Internet. Reviewed below are sites that help surfers preserve their privacy and track privacy trends in business and government.
Electronic Privacy Information Center
http://www.epic.org
Date Visited: 9/5/00
Developer/Provider: Fund for Constitutional Government
EPIC, established in 1994 by a public interest research center, offers a comprehensive approach to online privacy. The homepage features a good index of the latest news. Scroll further to Resources and Guides to read EPIC's newsletter and track pending legislation.
Also within Resources and Guides is the Online Guide to Practical Privacy Tools. It lists providers of snoop-proof e-mail, anonymous remailers for private e-mail, and programs to surf anonymously and to block some or all cookies. However, the lists are barely annotated, so it's not easy for the user to evaluate the differences among available products.
Below Resources and Guides, EPIC's Policy Archives include reports and articles on computer security, free speech, and cryptography policy. Particularly valuable is the section labeled Privacy, which contains a Privacy by Topic segment that discusses workplace privacy, how to cut down on spam and junk mail, and how to protect your Social Security number.
EPIC's Online Guide to Privacy Resources, found within Resources and Guides, provides a solid, annotated list of organizations, print publications, national and international web sites, privacy tools, and electronic newsgroups. EPIC does not include any advertising, so the site loads quickly. It's fully searchable by keyword.
The Bottom Line: EPIC offers an easily navigable, rich site to educate users on all facets of privacy issues, from news to policy. Its list of privacy protection tools doesn't explain enough for beginners.
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
http://www.privacyrights.org
Date Visited: 9/5/00
Developer/Provider: Utility Consumers' Action Network
While many sites in this column mention privacy issues outside cyberspace, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, in 22 fact sheets, focuses on those noncyberspace concerns. The first fact sheet, the recently updated Privacy Survival Guide, provides the most comprehensive list of ways to find out how to deal with credit bureaus, direct marketers, and other potential privacy violators. Many of the links within this guide connect to other fact sheets, though some of the information is California-specific.
The comprehensive Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) helps people prevent and respond to efforts by criminals to steal Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers and use the information to impersonate their victims and steal their funds. It can take years to clear up bad credit reports or fraudulent loans or accounts.
Other fact sheets cover issues from harassing phone calls to junk mail to tips to prevent stalking. The Speeches and Testimony link, from the left side menu, provides a good list of documents from various public and private groups.
The Bottom Line: The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse offers valuable information on basic privacy issues like credit reports and medical records and is an excellent resource on identity theft. It does not focus on cyberspace privacy.
WebVeil
http://webveil.com
Date Visited: 9/6/00
Developer/Provider: WebVeil.com
This privacy portal is somewhat similar to but better-designed than privacy.net (below). WebVeil's Reference section offers an excellent evaluation of anonymous proxy servers -- which allow anonymous surfing -- and an Opt Out section that explains how to tell ad tracking networks that you refuse their cookies or any other form of participation. The last Reference section, Essential Privacy Links, provides lightly annotated links.
The Veiled Comments on Privacy News section in the center of the homepage keeps readers current on web privacy news, often with barbed commentary. The Reviews section, beyond the evaluation of proxy servers, isn't comprehensive.
The Lessons section includes Cookies 101, which explains, in accessible language, what cookies are and illustrates why they're at the heart of web privacy concerns. WebVeil has more advertising than most sites.
The Bottom Line: While WebVeil is inconsistent, it is useful for news, cookies information, and an evaluation of anonymous proxy servers.
Privacy.net
http://www.privacy.net
Date Visited: 9/6/00
Developer/Provider: Consumer.net
Privacy.net reminds us of our scanty Internet privacy -- click on the Analyze Your Internet Privacy link at top left for a rather disturbing demonstration. Under the Ways You Are Traced When Using the Net link, it demonstrates what happens when a user visits sites, registers at one, and is tracked across the entire network. Follow Banner Network/E-mail Tracking Demo to see how law enforcement and marketing agencies can track users when they open e-mail accounts, even "anonymous" ones.
Privacy.net provides tools to fight back. Under Third Party Proxies and Third Party Remailers, it explains how to surf or send e-mail anonymously. Bake Your Own Internet Cookies Demo provides a clear explanation about how cookies work and a link to the Cookie Central site, which contains far more information. The P3P Information link explains how the Platform for Privacy Preferences works.
Privacy Software provides minimally annotated links to various privacy-related programs, and the Opt Out page offers links to fight telemarketers and credit bureaus. Despite some advertising, this low-graphics site has a basic menu on most pages.
The Bottom Line: This well-organized site offers a good explanation and examples of specific privacy concerns. Its lists of tools to fight back could provide more evaluation.
Alternate Sites
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Defining Digital Identity
http://www.eff.org/identity.html
The Defining Digital Identity section of the Electronic Frontier Foundation web site provides an excellent 12-step list for those interested in protecting their online privacy, such as how to (try to) manage cookies, avoid replies to e-mail spam, and provide pseudonymous information to nosy web sites.
Pew Internet Project Report: Trust and Privacy Online
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=19
This recent survey of Internet users shows that a large majority favor "opt-in" privacy policies that require Internet companies to ask for permission to use personal information. This challenges the policy negotiated by the Clinton administration, the Federal Trade Commission, and web advertisers that gives web sites the right to track Internet users unless users take steps to "opt out" of being monitored.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Privacy Initiatives
http://www.ftc.gov/privacy
GetNetWise
http://www.getnetwise.org
For primary texts in the battle over privacy, the FTC site includes Online Privacy Reports to Congress for the past three years. The Kidz Privacy link takes users to a colorful site that provides advice for children and parents. Scroll down the page for news releases, reports, cases, letters, and workshops on Online Profiling and Online Privacy. GetNetWise focuses mainly on Internet safety issues for families and children. Its Online Safety Guide contains a section on how teenagers and younger children face differing privacy issues.
BBBOnline Privacy Seal Program
http://www.bbbonline.org/privacy/index.asp
PrivacyRatings.org
http://www.privacyratings.org
TRUSTe
http://www.truste.org
The Privacy Seal Program of the online Better Business Bureau awards a logo to businesses that post online privacy policies that meet required principles, such as disclosure of practices, consumer choice, and security consciousness. The BBBOnline monitors privacy compliance and enforces dispute resolution. At PrivacyRatings, enonymous.com allows users to check unbiased privacy ratings of 30,000 sites. Only five percent of sites earn four stars, which indicates that they never sell or share a visitor's personally identifiable information and never contact a visitor who provides personal information without first obtaining explicit (opt-in) permission. The Enonymous Advisor is a browser companion that users must download to control/protect personal information while surfing. A nonprofit initiative backed by industry heavyweights like AOL and Microsoft, TRUSTe now offers its trustmark to over 800 sites that adhere to established privacy principles and agree to comply with TRUSTe oversight and consumer resolution procedures. The TRUSTe Watchdog form is an online mechanism for reporting violations and complaints. Under the Web Users section, Look Up a Company includes a list of participants. The Protecting Your Privacy Online section includes Consumer Dos and Don'ts.
Government Privacy Websites
http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/issues/priv/laws/lawlinks.htm
Privacy International (PI)
http://www.privacyinternational.org
Privacy Times
http://www.privacytimes.com
The list of Government Privacy Websites, organized by the Canadian Media Awareness Network, links to several Canadian sites, as well as those from a few other countries. Both Canada and Australia, for example, have Privacy Commissioners. PI, a London-based organization that works with U.S.-based EPIC, provides the best roundup of world privacy news on its homepage. Scroll to the bottom for an archive back to 1996. The homepage of Privacy Times, a subscription-only newsletter, offers stories on such topics as people who steal and use credit card numbers, or recent breaches of Internet privacy. The stories in the sections in the left-side menu are generally not current.
ACLU & Cyberliberties
http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/hmcl.html
Americans for Computer Privacy (ACP)
http://www.computerprivacy.org
The ACLU follows legislation and court cases on its Cyberliberties page; its Privacy and Encryption subsection includes a good article on the vulnerability of e-mail. ACP is a coalition of companies and associations representing financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications, law enforcement, and taxpayer groups concerned with the security of the information systems that involve their economic sectors.
