Do we still want privacy in the information age? Marvin Gordon-Lickey PROLOGUE All those who can remember how we lived before 1970 can readily appreciate the many benefits we now enjoy that spring from the invention of digital computing. The computer and its offspring, the internet, have profoundly changed our lives. For the most part the changes have been for the better, and they have enhanced democracy. But we know from history that such large scale transformations in the way we live are bound to cause some collateral damage. And the computer revolution has been no exception. One particular casualty stands out starkly above the sea of benefits: we are in danger of losing our privacy. In the near future it will become technically possible for businesses, governments and other institutions to observe and record all the important details of our personal lives, our whereabouts, our buying habits, our income, our social and religious activities and our family life. It will be possible to track everyone, not just suspected criminals or terrorists. Even now, information about us is being detected, stored, sorted and analyzed by machine and on a vast scale at low cost. Information flows freely at light speed around the world. Spying is being automated. High tech scanners can see through our clothes, and we have to submit to an x-ray vision strip search every time we board an airplane. Although we have laws that are intended to protect us against invasion of privacy, the laws are antiquated and in most cases were written before the computer age. They are profoundly inadequate to restrain the new electronic methods of data archiving, data retrieval and data mining. The information technology industry is growing at breakneck speed. We have to ask, is it possible to benefit from information technology while at the same time preserving our privacy? Without privacy do we have freedom? Privacy is dead -- Get over it. About once every two years since 1994, the magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has sponsored a conference in New York City called HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth).1 A frequent participant at these conferences has been a private detective named Steven Rambam, who is owner and CEO of a successful private investigation company.2 At several of these conventions Mr. Rambam has given a presentation titled “Privacy is Dead – Get Over It.”3, 4, 5, 6 In it he presents overwhelming evidence and examples of how it is possible to develop a detailed description of the private life of nearly any random person in the United States by sitting down at a computer and accessing databases that are open to the public. And he also points out that there is more detailed information stored in databases that are open only to licensed investigators or government agents. This method of investigation can be called data mining. A case study: In 2006, Rambam recruited a volunteer “mystery man” who gave Rambam his first name, his email address and his phone number. From this meager starting point, Rambam retrieved from various databases an elaborate and detailed profile describing many aspects of the mystery man’s 1 private life. His full name was Rick Dakan. He lived in Florida. He was an author of several books. Rambam obtained numerous photographs of Dakan. He also acquired Dakan’s social security number, his driver’s license number, his mother’s maiden name, the addresses of all the places that Dakan had ever lived, the purchase price and equity value of his current condo as well as other properties he had owned, the identity and cost of all the cars he had ever owned, where he parks his car, his telephone logs, the logs of the websites he has visited (including a porn site), the names of his friends (from Myspace), his complete educational history including colleges where he had enrolled but failed to graduate, his complete employment history, his credit history and ratings, all the loans that he had ever obtained, his court records (no convictions), the names and address of his parents, his political party affiliation, clubs that he belonged to, his special interests (cryptobiology) and hobbies (weightlifting, martial arts). Rambam also turned up the name and photograph of a scammer in Alabama who was fraudulently using Dakan’s social security number. All this took only four and one-half hours in front of his computer.7, 8, 9 And this was in 2006. Since then there has been a huge increase in the number of ways that personal information is being stored. Facebook was barely off the ground in 2006. Should we “get over it”? The lack of personal privacy illustrated by this story is shocking to many. But many others have gotten over it. A Gallup Poll conducted in January, 2011 found that many users of Google Search and Facebook were not at all concerned about losing personal privacy. For Facebook users, 35% were not at all concerned; for Google search, 48% were unconcerned.10 For example, I was recently talking about internet privacy with an adult member of my family, who I will call Jack. He said, “Privacy is really not a problem unless you’re a criminal.” Jack was stating his version of the “something to hide” argument,11 which says that “Only people with something to hide need privacy.” This argument has been famously expressed by Eric Schmidt, who was until recently the CEO of Google. In an interview on CNBC on 3-Dec-2009, Schmidt said "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Then he added, “If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines - including Google - do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act, and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.” Jack apparently does not perceive “the authorities” or the Patriot Act to be a threat to him. Another relative, who I will call Fred, has also gotten over it. He gave me a sophisticated version of the “Hey, it’s free” argument, to justify his tolerance for loss of privacy. This argument says that it’s unfair to benefit from a service without paying for it. According to Fred, institutions like Google, Facebook and the US Government need information from you and everyone else in order to make their services work better. Your information helps them improve the algorithms and statistical tables they use to formulate policy, distribute information and protect our security. This in turn results in a better life for everyone. If you were to withhold your information and then continue benefiting from the better life that their services provide, you would be guilty of free loading on the backs of others who are not so secretive. 2 Stated in another way, Fred’s argument is: All of us inevitably and involuntarily benefit from modern database technology. The benefits are both direct, as when we conduct a Google search, and indirect, as when we benefit from the collective improvement in economic efficiency that is brought about by the general availability of Google searching. Therefore we owe Google (or Amazon.com, or the government) the use of our personal information in order to avoid being free loaders. The United States Census is an example of how the government collects information about us for the purpose of improving government services for everyone. In this case we are prohibited by law from denying our information to the Census Bureau.12 Many government services are based directly on data collected by the census. To withhold your information would turn you into a free loader as well as degrade the government services that depend on representative sampling. Taxation is another example of this principle. It would be unfair for you to benefit from public goods like national defense, police protection, schools, roads, clean water, etc. unless you pay your share of the cost. You cannot refuse to benefit from these services, so you have to pay your taxes to avoid being a free loader. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator, principal owner and CEO of Facebook, seems to have gotten over it. On his personal Facebook page Zuckerberg has listed “openness” and “information flow” as two of his five personal interests. (The other three were “making things”, “eliminating desire”, and “minimalism”).13 On his company’s Facebook page it is stated that: “Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”14 This statement apparently reflects Zuckerberg’s personal values as well as his business goals.15 In a televised interview published on November 7, 2011, Charlie Rose asked Zuckerberg about how he is managing to live with his fame and fortune; how he makes sure he is in command of it rather than it being in command of him. Zuckerberg replied: “I don’t know…I spend a lot of time with my girlfriend and my dog…. We have a very open culture at the company where we foster a lot of interaction between not just me and people but between everyone else. It’s an open floor plan. People have these desks where no one really has an office…Actually, it’s really connected to the mission of the company. I think that more flow of information, the ability to stay connected to more people make people more effective as people. And I mean that’s true socially.