Internet Privacy Essay, Research Paper

As every generation comes they bring with

them a new invention from cars to television to the telephone the basic

existence of man, in my eyes, is to advance both technologically, thus

making life better for us all and also scientifically. Man wants to know

all we want to be able to answer all the questions out there as every day

goes by we get closer and closer to answering some of our questions.

Everyday new cures for diseases are found and also new diseases are discovered,

new discoveries are made in various fields, at the same time however new

problems are arising.

Man in every era has depended on some form

of tool to help him to his tasks whatever they may be, a tool to make things

easier. This tool is technology; technology does not have to be the modern

thoughts of computers. Technology is “the science of technical processes

in a wide, though related field of knowledge.” That is the definition given

by The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language.

So technology can be anything as long as it helps us advance. It can be

anything like a plough to help a farmer, a television to help the media

and the telephone to help us communicate. The latest technology of the

20th Century is the Internet and it has placed a great mark on our society.

It is the new “place to be” where business can advance, people can interact

worldwide at the click of a mouse and this has revolutionarily changed

the world. In the world of the Internet there are millions of members worldwide

and that means it is a very profitable arena. In an area where there is

money there are criminals and that is where the modern criminals of the

world are behind computer screens. They may be credible individuals in

society and they could also be credible corporations and organizations

that are finding a quick way to make money and by doing this they are breaking

ethical rules of society (even though it is hard to determine the ethics

of the internet) and one of these crimes is the violation of the privacy

of others.

I have logged on to the internet and have

felt safe, like anyone should that logs on to the net, that I am the only

one viewing my mail or cruising the net, I feel like I am the only one

that knows where I have been and that no one is tracking me. After all

the things I have just mentioned only happen in the movies, they are Enemy

of the State type of things, and it could not possibly happen to you am

I right? Wrong. By holding this thought one is including themselves “in

a large group of consumers, world-wide, who are unaware of the multitude

of information they are placing on the World Wide Web, simply by using

it as it was designed to be used. All it takes is a visit to any site to

place personal information about yourself on the internet. (Buffalo University).

The best way, at least for me, to understand

the Internet is not to view it as a one way street but instead as a two-way

road. The one way view of the internet is that it provides us with information

and entertainment, this is what many people use the internet for and that

is the one way view they maintain though it is not wrong there is more

to it. That is where the two way view comes into effect while an individual

is surfing the net the people that maintain the web sites are also getting

information that information is on you. It is a two way street because

you get what you want and they get what they want, which side gets the

more information is very debatable, solely on the premise on how much you

treasure your privacy.

It is disturbing to know that one can be

tracked all over the World Wide Web just from their mouse clicks. This

may be happening to many of us, our browser alone gives as away simply.

Just from our browser someone who wants to can find out could probably

find out “which computer you are coming from, what software and hardware

you are using, details of the link you clicked on, and possibly even your

email address (junkbusters.com)” This is a lot of information about us

that we may not want out there. Our browser is giving all this information

out through cookies. “A cookie is a unique identifier that a web server

places on your computer: a serial number for you personally that can be

used to retrieve your records from their databases. It’s usually a string

of random looking letters long enough to be unique (www.junkbusters.com).”

This is a very bad thing that destroys the founding of privacy if you cannot

surf the Internet without half the consumer-retailing world knowing about,

that is a very horrible thought.

When I view a particular page that is of

interest to me and I want to some more information on the products they

offer I usually fill an on-site registration form, along with me so do

many users of the Internet. By providing the information to the company

I am under the assumption that they will send the information I need to

me and that they are under an ethical code to respect my privacy. Well

in the world of the Internet, and in this day and age ethics might as well

be a dream. The forms we fill online may ask for basic information like

my name, address, phone number and email address and maybe my personal

interests, however the sad part is that all this information is most likely

being gathered for marketing purposes. It is often sold to other interested

parties willing to buy my information along with those of hundreds of others,

so that they may push their products upon them.

There are companies emerging over the

Internet that can get almost any piece of information on you that you hold

dear to your self. The Internet has unleashed a new beast, a beast that

has no name but that has no respect for privacy. If tomorrow morning the

United States Postal Service announced that all mail had to be sent in

a clear envelope there would be a huge ruckus. That would involve

everyone from a custodian to the president of a major organization; this

is because we all have something that is private to us that we do not want

strangers to know about. What is very disturbing is “when it comes to protecting

your privacy, banks and brokerage firms tend to squirm. By law they must

record Social Security number, the marker that can unlock the data in all

too many other accounts (Forbes pg. 187).” If your money is

not safe, if one knows how much money you have in this society then you

are at a disadvantage. In this society I feel every thing is measured by

the contents of your bank account, to achieve the dream many work hours

and hours upon end to make ends meet and to have all their labors exposed

to the whole world can be a very painful thing.

While researching this paper I came across

an interesting article done by MSNBC it was about a man named Glen Roberts

who lives in Oil City which is in northwestern Pennsylvania. Mr. Roberts

had obtained through legal means, thanks to the Internet and to be more

specific the electronic Congressional Record to obtain the social security

numbers of prominent members of the United States military. He then displayed

these numbers on his site to display to the world how insecure the Internet

was. “This is not some secret military document that someone hacked into,

and these are not the Pentagon Papers,” Roberts said. “This is information

that is put into public libraries all across the country with taxpayer

dollars” (www.msnbc.com). After reading the article on he MSNBC website

I searched for Mr. Glen Roberts page and found it. From there I was able

to discover the social security numbers of many prominent members in our

society including. General Colin L. Powell who’s social security number

is 113-28-4024 and Bill Gates who’s social security number is 539-60-5125.

These were all available from his Internet address: http://www.glr.com/media

After viewing the contents of this website

I thought to my self if the numbers of prominent members of society are

openly available to many then what would prevent the numbers of normal

civilians from being available. Many experts agree that once you have the

social security number of an individual you have the key to their whole

life. No safeguards are being taken to adequately protected. The Internet

in my opinion is a young domain and many are taking advantage of it by

breaking strict moral and ethical values.

To prove my point on how insecure the internet

was and how the privacy of others were not being protected I took the liberty

of finding out what information I could find on Mark Preut. He is my Debate

coach and also American Government teacher, in one minute (I timed myself)

I came up with was his address, phone number, map of the town he lived

in. If I had looked on further I know I could have found more but then

I would be contradicting my self on the matter of privacy.

The Internet is a dangerous place we need

to be careful. It is understandable that the founding fathers did not take

into account the invention of the Internet let alone the computer. However

they did believe in a sense of privacy that sense of privacy has not been

applied by this government. To that matter it has not been applied to any

other government which has control over events on the World Wide Web. It

is a shame there is no little or no privacy in this new world created by

man, the world known as cyberspace.

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