Internet Privacy

Internet Privacy

Many people use the Internet today and everyone will have at least one chance during a lifetime to use the internet or see how it works. The internet is the modern day encyclopedia, dictionary, streaming media like TV­­, and much more information just at the touch of your finger-tips. These are all great pros about the internet but there still remain a couple of questionable things about it. Do people have privacy rights or any rights while surfing the internet? A couple of questions must first be answered and they are how does it work, and do we have any privacy rights that we can claim to while surfing the internet.

Now a days’ the internet is the absolute most important thing in the world LITERALLY. Without the internet there would be no phones, communication, and almost life would come to a complete stop. So what exactly is the internet and how does it work? The internet is a large group of interconnected computer networks all over the world. Each person when they log on to the internet they have something almost like a photo I.D. or a drivers license. This I.D is called the Internet Protocol(I.P) address is basically shared with the internet company provider without your choice. Jonathan Bick is an adjunct professor of Internet law at Pace Law School and Rutgers Law School. He is also the author of '101 Things You Need To Know about Internet Law' [Random House 2000]. Based on his research on the internet privacy laws he has found out that once a person signs up with an internet provider they are basically signing over their internet right over to the provider. Meaning that your I.P address will be traced and many of your activities online are basically being watched. Bick says states that “Internet communications necessitates sharing content and data with third parties. The voluntary transfer of such content and related data to third-party Internet communication facilitators reduces or eliminates First, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Internet users”. So does this mean that we don’t have any privacy while surfing the internet.

So what does Bick think is a good way to start a privacy policy online or an internet privacy law? Bick reviewed a 1999 federal commission trade policy and thinks it should be taken also as an internet privacy policy. " 1. Notice/awareness: covers the disclosure of infonnation practices, including a comprehensive statement of information use; 2. Choice/consent: includes both opt-out and opt-in options and allows the consumers the choice to trade information for benefits, depending on the

value consumers place on the benefits; 3. Access/participation allows for confirmation of the accuracy of information; necessary when information is aggregated from multiple sources; 4. Integrity/security: controls for theft or tampering; and 5. Enforcement/redress: provides a mechanism to ensure compliance; this mechanism is an important credibility cue for online companies, but is extremely difficult to accomplish effectively". With this idea in place this would probably be the most effective

Based on the PRIVACY RIGHTS ON THE INTERNET article many websites have a policy that each person has to read and agree to while on the site. A good example given is the website of E-Bay. On the website upon signing up the “…registration process automatically sets the default to "yes," which ensures

that unless the readers are fully alert in reading all the details, they would automatically and perhaps inadvertently, agree to have their private information sold or shared with telemarketers and to receive promotional material from eBay. As you have read this what exactly does it mean? This means that you do have some sense or kind of privacy on the internet protected by the fourth amendment but once you agree to the policy you are basically signing those rights over to the website you are on. Once a person does that, their surfing history, clicks, and anything they have done is being shared or given out and all by their consent.

So what a good way to start a privacy policy online or an internet privacy law? A reviewed 1999 federal commission trade policy should be taken also as an internet privacy policy. " 1. Notice/awareness: covers the disclosure of infonnation practices, including a comprehensive statement of information use; 2. Choice/consent: includes both opt-out and opt-in options and allows the consumers the choice to trade information for benefits, depending on the

value consumers place on the benefits; 3. Access/participation allows for confirmation of the accuracy of information; necessary when information is aggregated from multiple sources; 4. Integrity/security: controls for theft or tampering; and 5. Enforcement/redress: provides a mechanism to ensure compliance; this mechanism is an important credibility cue for online companies, but is extremely difficult to accomplish effectively". With this idea in place this would probably be the most effective.

Based on the Internet Privacy and State having internet Privacy is kind of a two way thing. To have privacy "data privacy must be constructed around “the primacy of individual responsibility and nongovernmental action.” This is basically saying that each person kind of protects their own privacy. Meaning that our privacy falls within our control. Later in the article it says it more clearly and explains it more clearly " Despite the belief that cyberspace is a “friction free” medium, pervasive

restrictions exist in it regarding freedom of choice regarding information

privacy. Yet, for self-reliant consent to fulfill its assigned role for shaping privacy, individuals must be able to choose between different possibilities—and significant reasons exist for doubt on this score". Some people are unhappy about not having internet privacy, but the matter of fact is that we do have internet privacy but it is just not favored by the providing internet companies. The basic default settings from the internet companies disfavor the idea of privacy. This is because they make an enormous amount of money by selling this information. In the article of Internet Privacy and state it is stated that the best way to have privacy is to completely leave the cyberspace " Yet, industry standard setting largely disfavors privacy at present.

Internet companies generally benefit from developing standards, including

new software, that preserve the current status quo of maximum

information disclosure.32 Once online industry is able to “lock-in” a poor

level of privacy on the Web as the dominant practice, individuals may not

have effective recourse to other practices. They can protest, but collective

action problems on the Internet, as I have suggested above, are widespread.

Moreover, there is nowhere else to go—except to leave cyberspace".