Privacy on the Internet in the Digital Era

This article was retrieved from the Business Source Complete database in the CEC Cybrary on 6/12/2015.

Chiru, C. (2014). Privacy on the Internet in the digital era. Economics, Management & Financial Markets, 9(4), 141–149.

Economics, Management, and Financial Markets Volume 9(4), 2014, pp. 141–149, ISSN 1842-3191

PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET IN THE DIGITAL ERA

CLAUDIU CHIRU [email protected] Spiru Haret University

ABSTRACT. In this paper we will try to highlight some important aspects of the personal data security in the Internet environment. It seems that we are completely defenseless from the aggressors and the sad thing is that the software and hardware manufacturers cooperate closely with a specific category of such aggressors and create backdoors in the computer systems. This paper, considering the bibliographic references mostly outside the mainstream media, will demonstrate that the PC is electronic equipment that provides a low security level of personal or sensitive data. Maybe in a short time we will use again the old traditional machines (typewriters). JEL codes: L86

Keywords: Internet; social networking platforms; surveillance; censorship; backdoor

1. Introduction

The Internet, starting with the first implementation of a transmission between a HTTP client and a server in 1990 (www.w3.org/People/Berners- Lee) had an explosive evolution. According to (Internet World Stats, 2014) there is an exponential growth from 1995 – 16 million users to 2014 – 3,005 million users (estimation). Internet changed our habits, on line activities are more and more present in our daily life. The world economy, along with the globalization, has got a new dimension, “e” is eProcurement, ePayments, eGovernment, etc. The distribution systems, online sales are all elements that have become “e” and we no longer conceive our modern society without them. The explosive development of the software and hardware technology made it possible for today’s technology and services to be used in all the areas of activity: education, research, economics, health, trade, tourism, business, defense, etc. There have been developed applications for the financial transactions online, online commerce, multimedia, online, e- Learning, online magazines, electronic libraries, information search services on the network. 141 2. Social Network Software

The social networks as a communication medium in the Internet, are an online service that facilitates the creation of relationships between different people based on a common interest, common activity, who share ideas, passions, emotions. The implementation of such a system requires a website and provides tools that allow the user to organize the information, upload and download operations, email, chat, storage space. Of all the social networks, which have the Internet as a communication medium, Facebook stands out both by the large number of users and the multitude of personal information that people display on their own initiative on the Facebook site. Facebook was created in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and the fellow Harvard students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. At first, Facebook was designed to be used by the university students living in the campus. In a short time, the network has extended having a great media support.

Figure 1. Facebook statistics

Source: (Statistic Brain, 2014a) Another social media platform is Twitter. This allows users to post and read text messages with lengths up to 140 characters (known as tweets). Twitter was launched in July 2006 by Jack Dorsey and is found currently in the top 10 most visited websites in the world.

142 Figure 2. Twitter statistics

Source: (Statistic Brain, 2014b)

In the category of programs that facilitate the sharing of collaboration and information can be mentioned: YouTube, RapidShare, Wiki, Blogs.

3. Restricting Access to Internet

Many of the advantages of this global Network which is Internet (access to information, communication) are perceived as dangerous and as threats to some political regimes all over the world. As stated in Human Rights Watch, 2006, in China, there are more than 60 Chinese government issued regulations on the Internet use. These regulations are enforced by the Internet Service Providers (ISP), companies and organizations providing the Internet services. This individual monitor access to information blocks access to web sites. Amnesty International notes that China has the highest number of journalists in prison and cyber- dissidents in the world. In 2009, Reporters without Borders (Reporters without Borders, 2009) published a list of the Internet enemies. The organization classifies a country as the enemy of the Internet when it censors information, blocks access to information and represses Internet users.

143 Figure 1. Internet censorship by country

Source: (Paddy and Johnson, 2009).

In 2012, the Western World was very close to create a “Gulag” of information by adopting a series of regulations called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), “PROTECT IP Act” (PIPA), and the “Combating Online Infringement and Copyright Act” (COICA). These bills were promoted by Hollywood in the US Congress and later would have been adopted by the EU. These regulations would create a list of web sites that might have been shut down or might have restricted access. These regulations would have removed large amounts of information from the Internet including political opinion and other information that is not available in the mainstream media. The regulations promoted in the US Congress set out different methods for blocking sites that violate SOPA/PIPA. The techniques included DNS blocking, stop payment processors to function when accessing the “blacklist” websites, censor website searching engines. Also, these acts allow the Attorney General to create lists of censor sites even if no court has found evidence of breaking the copyright law. The protest against SOPA/PIPA included millions of people that sent messages to the Congress, petitions, while thousands of people protested in New York City. In this section we have briefly analyzed some aspects regarding the censorship of the Internet and information. The Internet, in some countries is viewed as an enemy that might jeopardize the political stability. In the following sections the Internet is viewed as a surveillance tool, an instrument of gathering information about people, a tool which might be used later for business or persecutions.

144 4. Facebook Information Gathering

As we have mentioned, Facebook has quickly become the largest social network with over 500 million registered users. Underlying this fact, it is true that among the users there are industries and organizations, companies, individuals. The list of the shareholders includes the names of Mark Zuckerberg, Goldman Sachs, Digital Sky Technologies, Accel Partners, Peter Thiel (former director PayPal) a known member of the radical conservative group Vanguard PAC, a consultant and member of Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence and last but not least, the Microsoft company. However, there are many voices who say that Facebook is a tool for surveillance and information gathering. In support of this information we can quote Christopher Satursky, a CIA deputy director, who said, during his presentation of a Homeland Security Report in the U.S. Congress that, “After years of secretly monitoring the public we were astounded that so many people willingly published where they lived, their religious and political views, advertised personal email, addresses, phone numbers, photos of themselves,… It is truly a dream come true for the CIA” (The Onion News Network, 2011). In their study, Acquisti and Gross (2006) concluded that a vast majority of Facebook users are not concerned about the security of their private information: “almost 77% of respondents claimed not to have read FB’s privacy policy (the real number is probably higher); and that many of them mistakenly believe that FB does not collect information about them from other sources regardless of their use of the site (67%), that FB does not combine information about them collected from other sources (70%), or that FB does not share personal information with third parties (56%).” Other scientists think that online social networks should be free expression spaces, where people post whatever they want and privacy, as we know, is an old fashion concept. Facebook is still an organization that works in the current capitalist society and has clear rules about profit. The profit is achieved from the advertisements that are targeted to the Facebook users. The Facebook privacy clause is very complicated and it is assumed that few people will read it to the end. However, after the careful reading of these terms, we realize that the FB collects a significant amount of personal data about the users and then it sells them to the advertisers. The FB has a duplicitous behavior. On the one hand, the FB ensures users that their personal data is safe, and on the other hand, the FB collects data about the people using the system and sells them to the advertising companies. People have serious concerns about what is happening in reality with the users’ personal data.

145 Andrew Brown in his article, “Facebook Is Not Your Friend,” suggests that the FB users are not clients but the product of the Facebook. “The customers are the advertisers to whom Facebook sells the information users hand over, knowingly or not” (Brown, 2010: 1).

5. Backdoors in Software and Hardware Devices

The backdoor in a computer system is a shortcut to various computer resources like files, passwords, privileges. Using a backdoor, an unauthorized user has access to some article data in the target computer without using the normal authentication procedure. People concern about the computer security limits to finding strong passwords, installing antivirus programs, firewalls etc. Most of the users do not know that there is a short way to their computer resources that bypass all the authentication mechanism. According to the security analysts, Windows, one of the most used operating systems has built in trapdoors. The first scientist who discovered a possible backdoor in Windows is Dr. Nicko van Someren. He reported his findings at Crypto ’98. Dr. Nicko van Someren analyzed the ADVAPI driver and discovered two keys. One of them was for controlling the cryptographic functions used in Windows that are allowed by the US government to be exported and the other one remains a mystery. Another scientist from the US, Andrew Fernandez, a chief scientist at Cryptonim, has discovered and explained the significance of the two keys. He checked the Service Pack 5 for Windows NT 4 and found out that the Microsoft programmers forgot to get out the debugging symbols used to test the software. The two keys were “KEY” and “NSAKEY.” He presented his findings in the CRYPTO ’99, The Conference held in Santa Barbara. The Windows programmers present in the conference refused to talk about the significance of the keys.

Zeit Online (Zeit Online, 2013), a German publication, has obtained some secret documents that show that the IT experts within the German Government believe that Windows 8 has backdoors that could be used by the NSA to control the computer remotely. The German IT specialists say that the TPM structure (Trusted Platform Modules) interacts with Windows 8 in a way that can reveal private information from the computers. Zeit says that the German researchers fear that there will be impossible to tell what exactly the effects of the remote updates are.

146 6. Backdoors in Microchips

Researchers from Cambridge University reported that they discovered a Chinese built backdoor in a microprocessor (Defence Update, 2013). This microprocessor (ProASICA3P250) is used in the military forces of the United States. The microprocessor is a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) designed to be programmed by the user. The circuit is distributed by the Microsemi Corporation of San Jose, California. The backdoor is programmed to create a Trojan Horse which is able to disable thousands of the automated systems. The researcher cannot say which of the companies from the production chain is responsible for this: the Chinese manufacturer or the American designer. According to (Joye and Smith, 2013) Steve Blank, one of the most respected specialist, said that “…he would be surprised if our national security Agency was not embedding “backdoors” inside the chips produced by Intel and AMD giving them the possibility to access and control machines.” The modern computers contain a microcode which is remotely updated by the security updates. These updates can change the computer behavior into an unnoticeable way. Thus, the user may be the target of a security break.

7. New Technology from Intel. Core VPro Processors

Core Vpro Processor is a new technology coming from the biggest chip manufacturer, Intel Company. It has new capabilities that make this processor unique among the other processors on the market. Vpro allows the PC’s to be remotely repaired by the IT maintenance (computers do not need to be powered on) and offers increased security. The promo materials show enhanced features that allow an administrator to shut down PCs remotely even if the PC is not connected to the network, and the ability to bypass the hard drive encryption. What are the consequences on personal data security? Jeff Marek, director of business client engineering for Intel, acknowledged that the Vpro Processor had “the ability to remotely kill and restore a lost or stolen PC via 3G.” Despite of the advantages presented by Intel Company this high tech processor allows hackers or NSA to access information from the hard drive of the computer even if the power is off and the computer is not connected to the network. Webcams could be accessed remotely, computers could be disabled remotely.

147 We can conclude that this new processor, wrapped in good intentions, is going to invade people’s privacy more than ever and to increase the risk of the industrial espionage.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this work is a series of question marks. What can we do to maintain our privacy? Can we trust our PCs? Security specialists say, no. According to Spiegel magazine (Appelbaum, Horchert, and Stöcker, 2013), there is a catalog of surveillance tools developed by the NSA. These tools have a technology level that seems detached from James Bond films. Some of these devices are available at affordable prices. What is the future of the IT? It seems that the increase in computer performance paradoxically leads to the possibility of controlling the computers more easily from the outside. The Mass Media and IT industry focus heavily on protecting the systems from the threats outside the systems (antivirus, firewall, ...), but there is a more serious threat inside and that threat comes from the manufacturers of the equipments we use. Along with the new Intel v. Pro, access to our computers can be done anytime regardless of whether the computer is on or not, connected to the network or not, powered or not. The malicious user can access the system from the outside at any time. Considering the privacy issues, the future computer development seems not very promising.

REFERENCES

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