Privacy
A trend of great concern is the partnership of major consumer directory services with companies that compile so called "public-records" databases. Such databases compile records from a wide variety of government agencies, including courts, vital statistics departments, tax rolls, elections records, or agencies that regulate professional licenses. In addition, some companies also purchase data that is mined from questionnaires, applications for credit cards, manufacturer's warranty information and other commercial sources.Revenues are often the primary motivators for state agencies that license or sell access to their databases.Web access to these data aggregators only broadens a growing problem inherent in these data services: consumers do not have access to the public information maintained about them and disseminated by the look-up services. Accordingly, consumers will not be able to check for inaccuracies resulting from transcription or other errors occurring in the process of obtaining or compiling the public information by the look-up services.In addition to not being able to access the information maintained about them in these massive data warehouses,
The electronic scene resembles a combination of a commodity traders' floor and a street corner of drug dealers. The programs simulate web surfing on a computer while the user is away, generating funds from a pay-to-surf service. "Lying has become more socially acceptable because of how rampant and out of control the privacy violations are," says Carrie McLaren, editor of Stay Free!, a magazine that advocates online deceit. He would not specify how many ISPs he believed to be using the vulnerable, 1997-98 versions of Front Page. She adds that such fundamental decisions about what to share "shouldn't be about reading the fine print" of a Web site's privacy policy, but instead should be as obvious as the difference between staying in the privacy of your own home versus walking down the street. The information required was utilized for marketing purposes, as the access for free Internet is compensated by advertising, and not to "spy" on users. A spokeswoman for Visa said her company does monitor a number of public sources of information, but declined to offer details, saying that would compromise the company's monitoring methods. The free service, Libero, required users to disclose their age, health status, sexual habits, as well as political, labor, and religious preferences, an unlawful imposition, Rodota said. "We are in the unique position of not having to have records, yet we have to keep a certain record, a 404 log, so that our bandwidth does not get eaten up," he added. Only five percent of surfers have used a program that cloaks a user's identity from Web sites. Finally, despite those fears, they behave in surprisingly trusting ways in many sensitive online areas. Informed consent of the customers is vital to the use of e-data. As a result, Americans suffered a record number of privacy violations, from marketing of prescription drug information to government sales of Department of Motor Vehicles information, including photos, to the Clinton Administration's plan to assign every American a "unique health identifier" that could be used to create a giant database of our medical records from cradle to grave, without adequate safeguards to prevent unauthorized dissemination. By using tiny computer data tags called 'cookies," Pharmatrak records the browsing habits of users wanting to know more about various medical conditions such as herpes, allergies, and drug addiction. The Federal Trade Commission currently lacks the authority to enforce privacy standards on commercial Web sites, unless the content is directed at children.
Common topics in this essay:
Cyber Dialogue,
Trade Commission,
Internet Introduction,
Companies Software,
Sullivan MSNBC,
Stay Free,
Donath MIT,
Rodota Infostrada,
Prague-based Webspertsnet,
Meanwhile Watsky,
web sites,
credit card,
personal information,
web site,
internet users,
privacy policies,
personal data,
front page,
privacy online,
net users,
informed consent customers,
anonymous web browsers,
federal trade commission,
percent net users,
simulate web surfing,
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Acceptance Essays
