Does Online Privacy Exist?
Is there such a thing as online privacy? That is today’s question.
In class, we decided that no, there was no such thing as online privacy which seems to be about right.
As teenagers our lives are constantly being thrown onto the internet. We post where we are at all the time on Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. We blog about every event of our lives, share pictures of our family and friends on the web, and chat with complete strangers if we feel like it.
Online privacy is not always something that is in the forefront of our brains considering how much of our lives we allow the world to see.
In an article by the New York Times, author Steve Lore talks about how online privacy has vanished.
As we discussed in class, Lore re-covered the issue of computers storing cookies and all of the information about what sites we visit to better figure out what our interests are, invading our privacy.
Yes, there are privacy settings when sharing personal information about our lives on sites such as Facebook and Myspace, but when it comes down to it the privacy settings are a little defense against the vast world of the internet.
Jon Kleinberg, a professor of computer science at Cornell University who studies social networks said, “when you’re doing stuff online, you should behave as if you’re doing it in public -because increasingly, it is.”
Privacy expert Steve Rambam said during a public speaking session, ‘Privacy Is Dead – Get Over It’ that, “Online privacy doesn’t exist because we put every private thing online.”
The only way to protect ourselves and our privacy online is to limit what information about our lives we put online.
Conflict in The digital Age- The War on Cyberspace
Using the internet for war purposes is probably not something a students thinks about in their free time. For people concerned with politics and the economy, it’s a big deal.
Before this class and specifically learning about the internet and cyber espionage, I never viewed the internet as a weapon, especially not one that could cause war. In class, we talked about cyber espionage, gathering secret information over the internet and why that is useful:
-For political or economical advantages
-Equipment disruption – use computers to interfere with communication (preventing orders to go through the chain of command).
-Counterfeit hardware
-Web vandalism
-Propaganda vandalism
-DOS attack – denial of service attack
‘Pentagon to Consider Cyber attacks Acts of War’ shows the world that the possibility of our nations computers being attacked by a foreign nation is not such a foreign idea. As we discussed in class, the tricky thing about cyber attacks is not knowing where they are coming from, and who is going to be targeted next.
All of this information about the conflicts with the internet and computers in this age makes me wonder, are we prepared if our internet and computers were attacked?
From the article, it doesn’t sound likely. If American computers were attacked, administration officials say that options from the U.S.
The question is, what is a military strike? And how would we implement a retaliatory cyber attack? In class discussion we learned that US has a cyber security zhar (advisor on the internet activity and keeps cyber security in check), and many statements have been said that we are unprepared in case of such an attack on our cyber world.
The New York Times article says that National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security are all working on cyber-related issues that fit with the international cyber strategy (the Obama administrations proposal for international computer security standards with penalties for countries and organizations that fall short).
It is slightly reassuring to know that people are working to protect our computers and technology.
“The effort to build trust in the cyberspace realm is one which should be pushed in capitals around the world,” said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the soon to be ambassador to China
What we need is a nation without conflict in cyberspace. We can only aim for that goal with trust, taking precautions, and awareness of what is going on in our digital age.