Privacy, Anonymity and the Internet

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Privacy, Anonymity and the Internet

• Ian Lloyd
• University of Strathclyde
• i.j.lloyd_at_strath.ac.uk

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Or..

• You have zero privacy, get over it (Scott
  McNally. SUN Microsystems)
• Can both views be right?
• It all depends on what we mean by privacy
• And its conjoined sibling, anonymity

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Privacy

• From small beginnings, the United Kingdom courts
  have adopted an expansive view of the scope of
  the right of privacy
• In most (not all) cases privacy issues involve an
  amalgam of who someone is and what they are
  doing.
• Privacy can have a limited role when we act in
  public places

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Simple emotions many issues

• Is there any invasion of privacy here?
• Kissing in public involves the possibility of
  recognition
• Publication possibly raises different issues
• In the particular case, in spite of initial
  appearances the photograph was staged
• The anonymity of the individuals was preserved
  until it was realised how much money the
  photographer was making

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Turning to the Internet

• Virtually every action we take leaves traces
• Compare buying a train ticket on line with
  purchasing one at the station.
• We perhaps have more privacy but much less
  possibility of anonymity

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How much data is held?

• Recent cases of data losses by Government
  departments evidence one aspect of the issue.
• Data relating to 30 million people involved in
  receipt of child benefits fitted onto 2 CDs.
• Significant data about 100,000 prisoners was held
  on a memory stick
• Effectively, space constraints no longer feature
  in data storage.
• It is easier to retain than to delete and easier
  to send everything rather than edit

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Some more examples

• Mobile phone companies retain traffic and
  location data for many months or even years
• Claims that MS have customer data going back
  more than a decade
• Questionable compliance with data protection
  legislation but can it be enforced.
• Tesco have files on more individuals than did the
  East German Stasi

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What are the dangers?

• We live in a society where more and more
  decisions are made following the processing of
  information.
• Knowledge is assuming decreasing significance
• Everything we do on the Internet is recorded.
• It may not be known who we are but what we do is
  known and may be shared by different parties

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The past can come back to haunt us
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In the criminal field

• Law enforcement agencies have been quick to
  realise the value of communications.

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Whats new?
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Today
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And tomorrow?
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Where do we go

• More and more important aspects of our lives
  involve the Internet.
• Most of us would not be without it
• Nobody may care that we are a dog but if we fit
  a pattern of behaviour associated with a canine
  we will be treated as one.
• Good or bad?