Internet privacy

Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storage, re-purposing, provision to third parties, and display of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet.[1][2] Internet privacy is a subset of data privacy. Privacy concerns have been articulated from the beginnings of large-scale computer sharing[3] and especially relate to mass surveillance.[4]

Privacy can entail either personally identifiable information (PII) or non-PII information such as a site visitor's behavior on a website. PII refers to any information that can be used to identify an individual. For example, age and physical address alone could identify who an individual is without explicitly disclosing their name, as these two parameters are unique enough to identify a specific person typically. Other forms of PII may include GPS tracking data used by apps,[5] as the daily commute and routine information can be enough to identify an individual.[6]

It has been suggested that the "appeal of online services is to broadcast personal information on purpose."[7] On the other hand, in security expert Bruce Schneier's essay entitled, "The Value of Privacy", he says, "Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance."[8][9]

  1. ^ The Editorial Boards (March 29, 2017). "Republicans Attack Internet Privacy". New York Times. Archived from the original on March 8, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  2. ^ Wheeler, Tom (March 29, 2017). "How the Republicans Sold Your Privacy to Internet Providers". New York Times. Archived from the original on August 11, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  3. ^ E. E. David; R. M. Fano (1965). "Some Thoughts About the Social Implications of Accessible Computing. Proceedings 1965 Fall Joint Computer Conference". Archived from the original on 2000-08-16. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
  4. ^ Schuster, Stefan; van den Berg, Melle; Larrucea, Xabier; Slewe, Ton; Ide-Kostic, Peter (1 February 2017). "Mass surveillance and technological policy options: Improving the security of private communications". Computer Standards & Interfaces. 50: 76–82. doi:10.1016/j.csi.2016.09.011. hdl:11556/375. ISSN 0920-5489.
  5. ^ "The new meaning of PII — can you ever be anonymous?: Case study: Is GPS data personal data?". October 18, 2022.
  6. ^ Valentino-DeVries, Jennifer; Singer, Natasha; Keller, Michael H.; Krolik, Aaron (2018-12-10). "Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They're Not Keeping It Secret". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  7. ^ Pogue, David (January 2011). "Don't Worry about Who's watching". Scientific American. 304 (1): 32. Bibcode:2011SciAm.304a..32P. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0111-32. PMID 21265322.
  8. ^ "The Value of Privacy by Bruce Schneier". Schneier.com. Archived from the original on 2022-05-02. Retrieved 2015-02-09.
  9. ^ Bruce Schneier (May 18, 2006). "The Eternal Value of Privacy by Bruce Schneier". Wired.com. Archived from the original on 2017-05-10. Retrieved 2016-07-19.