ENCOUNTERING SECURITY: FREEDOM AND PRIVACY IN THE INTERNET AGE

In the era of Internet, Privacy is no more a social norm proclaimed Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook1. Another online giant Googles CEO Eric Schmidt caused an outrage by saying that Secrets are for Filthy people2. There is lot of debates going on about the validity of the claim for individual privacy in the internet age. In order to talk about Internet Privacy, we need to define what is privacy? Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively 3. In the words of Ann Cavoukian, Privacy relates to freedom of choice and control in the sphere of one's personal information - choices regarding what information you wish to share and, perhaps more important, what you do not want to be shared with others4. Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, repurposing, providing to third-parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet5. We are living in a unique period of history in which the privacy of every person on the earth can be invaded, violated, publicized or sold that too from a remote location. In a world where almost one third of the population uses internet, the question of online privacy is essential. As an active internet user myself, I am very well aware of the looming threats to my privacy luring around in cyber space, from malicious programs like malware, Trojan horse, keyloggers to organized hacker groups and criminal gangs. But I consider Internet as a necessary evil. It makes my life lot easier. From finding a long lost friend to making orders in an online shopping site are the benefits of the internet penetration and resultant connectivity. But it makes my life insecure too. I am feeling insecure because of the fact that every key stroke I make on my computer can be logged, every activity I do in the websites like Facebook can be monitored and every place I check in can be stored in case if I carry a smart phone. Undoubtedly information about you, me and everyone has a value. There are different kinds of groups who are after the

information, the digital trail I leave around when I surf the internet shop online or check in a particular place.

First among the groups are websites. For example sites like Google, Facebook and Twitter collects and saves the data of every user in order to make their social networking a more personal experience. We are leaving every bit of our personal data like birthdays, places of residence, our interests, preferences, hobbies, places we check in , relationship status, employment details etc in these sites. Irrespective of the privacy settings these information are not safe. There are numerous incidence of Facebook hacking. We also encounter problems once we try to delete our data. These sites do not delete our data but make it merely inaccessible. This is because of various technical complexities and undoubtedly economical benefits involved in storing the data. Once we put our data online on cloud computing platforms, we lose control of our data. Our visit to various merchant sites and our online purchases are recorded. The sellers use the generated data to construct a detailed purchasing pattern so that customized advertising is possible. There are numerous other sites which track the browsing pattern and interests in order to provide additional services to the user. The digital world is creating a personalized profile for every one of us. This might be just because of commercial interests alone at present. Providing the complexities in the digital world and the lack of regulations and rules this may prove to be harmful to individual security. And once your data is online, its not private6. One of the greatest problems in this data storing activity is Data Reuse. It means using data collected for one purpose for an entirely different purpose. In this process we lose control of our data and it can be misused 7. The cyber criminal gangs and hacker groups are formidable threats not only to the security and privacy of individuals but also groups, organizations and in some cases governments. The cyber criminals are there for money as the cyber underworld makes approximately hundred billion dollars per year. There are websites like GangstaBucks.com which buys and sells bot nets and other virus infected computers. There are increasing number of virus writers who make a big money by infecting computers with their viruses and selling their control to sites like this. These

infected computers and bot nets are used in range of issues from sending spam emails, hosting illegal networks online to stealing money from the online banking accounts of the hapless original owners of the computer.

They can also install key loggers which can record every single letter we type in the infected computer, email communications, passwords, bank account details etc and send them to the criminals.

Ironically the most serious threat to individual privacy and security emanates from the Governments. Especially after a series of high profile terrorist attacks ranging from World Trade Centre in New York to siege of Hotel Taj in Mumbai, the governments are trying to snoop into day to day life of every citizen in the name of combating terrorism. Now governments can sneak into everybodys email conversations, instant messages, video chats, text messages and even phone calls. So everything we do can be monitored, everything we say might be saved and scrutinized, our actions are most probably recorded and our movements are tracked. The mass surveillance of the population is becoming a reality due to the advancements in technology. In the last few years wholesale surveillance has become a norm. A perfect example for this case is a directive tabled by the EU Commission in European Parliament and In European Commission in the year 2006. It directed the member states to make appropriate provisions to store citizens' telecommunications data up to twenty four months. These data can be accessed by the police and security agencies if the need arises. The government agencies will be able to access even the details such as IP address and time of use of every email, phone call and text message sent or received8. There is also accelerated proliferation of this technology from industrially advanced countries to the third world. The surveillance industry is now a huge international business. Surveillance systems sold by the western companies were used by the authoritarian regimes in Libya and Egypt to monitor and to hunt down the dissidents9. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange once warned in a press conference that the entire populations are being subjected to surveillance and nobody anywhere in the world is safe anymore

The Indian government is buying communication interception technologies and equipments in a fervent phase. It is also in the process of setting up of a multimillion dollar Centre for Communication Security Research and Monitoring in order to give the law enforcement agencies seamless access to the mobile and internet communications. The National Technical Research Organization an umbrella organization for communication and signal intelligence has deployed computers fitted at the key internet nodes, where all the countrys internet traffic is passing. Several states are following the suit10. There was an allegation raised by journalist Saikat Duttas article that the passive interception capabilities deployed by agencies like NTRO were often misused for political purposes, though the government emphatically denied the accusation11. So here is the more important question. When the government is trying to fight the terrorist who are more and more dependent on the internet to communicate, plan and coordinate their attacks is it right to raise hue and cry about the governmental interference and monitoring? The issue here is not to compromise the governments ability to fight terrorism. It is all about having accountability. Its just not about privacy. Its about having control of our own lives, about the virtue called freedom. It is perfectly rational to feel insecure in these circumstances. There is always a possibility of misuse. Because of this fact, Cardinal Richelieu once said: "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." The constant surveillance and the resulting fear of persecution by the government will drastically affect the way society functions. So the question here is, who will guard the guardians? On the other spectrum, the authoritarian regimes of the world are making better use of the internet not for surveillance but for social engineering. Countries ranging from China, Russia to Iran are building Spinternet groups12. Authoritatrian regimes readily accept Spinternet which

sprinkles government approved views and opinions in a massive scale there by spinning the opinion of the netizens favour of the government. This is the new form of propaganda.

We can call it as cyber engineering as this effectively controls modifies peoples thinking pattern, online behavior and subsequent real world affairs. China is effectively using this tool to perpetuate the one party communist rule. Just by fuelling hyper national sentiments online the government effectively redirects the popular pressure on a different direction which is favorable for the government. Spinternet groups are used as a tool to plug the gaps in censorship regime as the censoring online contents are too ineffective. These groups are involving in vigorous online activities like blogging and control information flow online. The governments can control what should be discussed online just by operating these groups behind the screen. This can also be used as tool to vent off the public pressure and also a method of social control. This is not the end of the story. More is coming. The governments are keen to vest themselves the control of the internet. Currently the internet which is decentralized is managed by two independent organizations Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). But in the recent International Telecommunication Conference, a group of nations led by China and Russia tried to bring the governance and regulation of the Internet under UN which will effectively bring the Internet under government control. One thing is true; we cannot stop or reverse the march of technology. Just because of the fact that the Facebook stores our data forever we are not going to stop using Facebook. Yes, there are organized criminal gangs on internet; it will not prevent us from using the online merchant sites. The government undoubtedly is monitoring us, it is the need of the hour. But all we need is accountability. We need legal safeguards to protect our identity. Strong laws to deter the exploitative data reuse and intrusive data mining. A set of principles like oversight,

minimization, and transparency to guide the enforcement agencies when they intercept our private communication or when they handle our information.

Personally I feel more secure when I am in the situation I can control. And it is obvious that I tend to overestimate the risk attached to the situations which I dont have much control. I am a technology end user; I absolutely have no control on almost everything in the cyber space. I am encountering a security dilemma every day. My privacy is invaded from every direction and by every group with not so benign motives. Security is definitely a trade off. We give something in order to get security. Every day I am making a trade off, but not so intelligently. Because still I share my status on Facebook, I use Flipkart to save a walk to the nearby book shop and prefer reading news online to newspaper. In this internet age, my privacy and the intrinsic value it holds within itself are taken and I get less in return; a little bit of convenience along with a big baggage of insecurity, fear of being exploited, monitored and scrutinized. I have nothing sinister, without any doubt I am no filthy. I believe privacy is not about hiding something, its all about having control of my life; its about freedom; its about being a human. But I realize the fact that thinking of privacy in Facebook age is utopian. Maybe I am becoming less free, less human or I am just scared and confused.

References: 1) Privacy no longer a social norm, Says Facebook founder, The Guardian dated January 11, 2010. 2)Google CEO: Secrets are for filthy people, retrieved from

http://gawker.com/5419271/google-ceo-secrets-are-for-filthy-people 3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy 4) Privacy is still a social norm by Ann Cavoukiyan, The Globe and Mail dated 12 March, 2010. 5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_privacy 6) Should We Have an Expectation of Online Privacy? By Bruce Schneier, Information Security, May 5, 2009. 7) Strong Laws, Smart Tech Can Stop Abusive 'Data Reuse'. By Bruce Schneier, Wired News, June 28, 2007.

8) Privacy and Law Enforcement in the European Union: The Data Retention Directive. http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2304&contextfaculty_scholarship 9) Big Brother is everywhere now, The Hindu dated December 2, 2011. 10) The Governments listening to us, The Hindu dated December 1, 2011. 11) We, the Eavesdropped, Saikat Datta, Outlook dated May 03, 2010. 12) How the net aids Dictatorships, A talk by Evgeny Morozov. Retrieved from ted.com