...Introduction On a broader perspective, privacy can be defined as the state of being away of public attention. However, this meaning can be altered according to specific situation. The difference in the definition arises due to wide range of topics existing in connection with privacy. Some of these topics encompass physical, informational, organizational, spiritual, intellectual matters, etc. Due to the increasing awareness of the people with regards to this concept of privacy, importance was given in preserving as well as protecting the rights of the public. Some laws are enacted to address this concern, but the privacy laws differ in many countries in terms of the scopes and limitation caused by the variations in interpretations. The culture differences and norms among countries, which greatly influence the public’s perception, significantly affect the interpretation of privacy. It is evident, nowadays, that advancement in technology is faster than what was expected. It can also be observed that the technologies invented have contributed substantial improvements in the society as this made the lives of the people easier and better. However, it cannot be denied that it has a negative side that outweighs some of its benefits. In relation to the privacy issue mentioned above, these technological advancements create threats, specifically to the preservation of its users’ privacy. The rapid increase in the number of users can be associated with the increase of information flow...
Words: 2705 - Pages: 11
...China, Multinational Corporations, and Internet Privacy Issues: An Incoherent Landscape Lysette Kent China, Multinational Corporations, and Internet Privacy Issues, Lysette Kent 49 Abstract In the mid 2000s, staff at the Chinese division of Yahoo! sent information on one of its users, Shi Tao, to the Chinese government. The journalist had been critical of the Chinese government, and, based on the information sent to the government, Shi Tao was sentenced to ten years in prison. In 2010, e-mail accounts housed by Google were hacked. Many of these accounts belonged to human rights activists. Issues like these pose a conundrum for the United States and international entities that are looking to prevent human rights abuses, including violations of privacy, in countries such as China. This paper will evaluate current and proposed efforts to curb such actions by the Chinese government. I propose the following three-pronged approach to deal with these actions: 1) a vigorous naming, blaming, and shaming campaign; 2) the adoption of a uniform policy by the United States government for addressing the Chinese government on these issues; and 3) the development of coherent, enforceable, and specific codes of conduct by trade associations and business groups that discuss issues of censorship and privacy regarding the internet, their customers, and foreign governments. 50 The Public Purpose Statement of the Problem In the mid-2000s, staff at the Chinese branch of Yahoo! sent...
Words: 8823 - Pages: 36
...the company name] | Google and Privacy Issues | | | Google is the highest used internet search engine and is free for international use. Good and bad exists with everything and although Google provides people all over the world with tons of information, it is constantly being overlooked and controlled by the people who created it and who control it which can be seen as a huge downside for many individuals. There are many critisms of Google such as manipulation of search results, violating people’s privacy and censorship of search results such as page ranking. Although Google provides services that play a large part in many people’s lives for free, it does come at the price of an individual’s personal information and privacy. Google, Facebook and every browser ever created have always gathered data and used that data, but never have these companies created a compilation of personal information based on years of our trusting them. Google has been attempting and has begun to succeed in taking over all of our digital media, from the top used search engine as well as Gmail and Google news which have become the number one news source for many people. People are taking information that they want to hear and Google has been trapping society in a box by finding out our major interests and purely basing everything else off of that rather than incorporating new ideas. Google has the power to control us without us even realizing it and “because Google is so readily available...
Words: 1655 - Pages: 7
...Google and Privacy Google, the popular search engine, has become an invaluable resource in the lives of many. The search engine’s ability to turn the chaotic warehouse of information that is the Web into a categorized and navigable tool has propelled Google to its current position at the heart of modern technological culture. Yet, Google has not been able to fly under the radar in terms of privacy. While its services are greatly valued, they are also the target of a significant amount of criticism. The right to privacy is a great individual concern and considering that there are over a billion unique Google users, the issue of possible privacy invasion is both an important and immediate one (citation). The privacy debate is complicated, however, by the fact that Google has deemed the traditional understanding of privacy invasion as outdated. By providing a valuable service that users trust at the risk of possible privacy invasion, Google has changed the way in which one thinks about privacy invasion. Experts agree that Google has an ability to attract users’ trust and information based on the benefits of the service it provides. According to Kevin Bankston, Google is expecting us to trust it (Mitchell 1). This complicates the privacy debate in that formerly potential privacy invasion was neither willingly entered into nor beneficial in any way. Michael Zimmer credits the convenience of Google as the reasoning for users’ unwavering trust and disclosure (citation). Meanwhile...
Words: 981 - Pages: 4
...Privacy is defined as the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information, which therefore means that they get to select what information about themselves gets released to the public. Search engines and the internet cause the boundaries of what is considered private information to be blurred. Once private information gets released on the internet, it becomes very difficult to remove this information completely because it may have already been copied or archived. The internet and search engines have made people wonder what is actually considered private information. Since the line is very vague, it makes it very difficult to regulate and each problem that arises is unique because technology is changing at such a fast rate. The common question that seems come out of all of these privacy issues is how can technology companies like Google grow and remain competitive in the long run while remaining ethical and giving users their privacy? Privacy of personal information is a fundamental right of any person. No one wants his/her private details to be known to other people, especially ones who they are not familiar with. However, human society is based on cooperation between people. Society simply cannot function without this vital interaction between two human beings. No one is that capable or skillful enough to fulfill his/her daily requirements alone. The very fabric of society exists because a person has to depend on other people to get things done. Whenever...
Words: 644 - Pages: 3
...Privacy has been a part of society for a very long time but it is not surprising that issues of honesty, deception and fraud all circulate personal privacy on a constant basis. Due to the acceleration of the Internet phenomena, people are finding out more evasive information then they thought existed regarding their private life. Due to the two different approaches to privacy, the aspect of consumer protection and free market privacy has now become a norm for most of society. There are many events out there regarding privacy and the rate at which technology is increasing, is making it just that much harder for us to control the issue. I have decided to elaborate on two current privacy issues that most probably affect everybody in this day and age in one way or the other. The two current event topics I thought would enlighten the reader incorporate the social network phenomena, Facebook and the privacy concerns over the new Google Street View Project. Both these examples involve the consumer protection and the free market. The social network phenomenon, Face book, is a free service that is the go-to place for people to share their likes, and dislikes, photos and dating status. However, Facebook has yet again been put on the chopping block regarding their privacy issues. Facebook has several features that have a significant impact on privacy and security of personal information. These features have raised issues of collecting, distributing, controlling and retaining information...
Words: 1411 - Pages: 6
...Google Street View Invasion of Privacy Gustavo Barraza Google Street View Invasion of Privacy The enthusiasm was evident in social networks by the entry of Google Street View. For many of us was practical for others this development can mean a violation of privacy. The pictures of house numbers, which are taken from doors and fences on its Street View mapping service, appear on Google’s websites. According to the article of Consumer Affairs Editor (Hall, 2012), campaign groups said that the use of pictures of real house numbers presents “serious” security issues, and accused the internet company of being “underhand and crude”. Earlier this year, a Frenchman shown urinating in his front yard on Google Street View sued the company already facing criticism over privacy policy changes, PC World reported. Other embarrassing moments captured by the cars' cameras include men entering adult-entertainment stores and a naked man emerging from the trunk of a car. In 2010, Google's cars also collected Wi-Fi data in several countries, prompting independent investigations, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Information gathered included email passwords and content and device and network IDs related to private wireless networks (Poulnot, 2012). Not formal legal action against Google's street imagery has been filed yet. Hence, privacy law attorneys say taking pictures of public places is legal. "The law allows you to take a picture of anything you can see as long...
Words: 441 - Pages: 2
...The power of Google should be limited before it becomes too much of a monopoly in the world especially with its deepening relationship with several of United States Government programs such as the CIA and NSA. With these governmental aids, who knows what is Google’s true potential. Who knows what privacy issues will occur in future. Even with Google’s mission statement “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” pretty much says in itself that Google doesn’t care about anyone’s privacy. Google’s mantra “Don’t be evil” is its reassurance that the information obtained by Google will not be used in a bad sense, but what is evil in Google’s eye. Didn’t you ever wonder how Google can supply free tools online such as g-mail and its toolbar? The answer is easy, Google provides these tools for free because there is an unrecognized agreement by many when you sign up for the usage of these tools and it is that Google can scan anything too collect data. For example, in your g-mail, Google scans all emails in g-mail that are being sent and received. Let alone whatever Google scans, they store. So that private love affair that you think is so private on that g-mail account, think again, because Google knows. So why does it matter that Google scans all of this information, what makes it so bad. Well going back to Google’s partnership with our government. Google can supply our government with so much more information then is imaginable. Some see this...
Words: 1370 - Pages: 6
...Theology Final Paper – Online Privacy One of the most fascinating things in the twenty first century has to be the internet. We rely heavily on to for our news, entertainment, gaming, research, school work, shopping and pretty much anything that you can think of can be found on the internet. It has had such a large impact on our lives, but at what cost has this come to the user. What is really going on in the background of websites, are we being followed and tracked to just be sold off as a product to a marketing company. Many companies such a Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter, and Apple all participate in the data collection. This data can be found as a cookie, a post, tweet, search, or an account that you may have with any of these particular companies. Each of these companies states their reasoning for tracking and it always comes down to providing a better experience. I believe that it is ok for companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter, and Apple to track our searches and compile data about us as long as they keep the advertising online. Once they invade our home life such as phone calls and direct mailing, then I believe that they have gone too far. Nothing is ever truly free these companies are in it to make money and they make considerable amount of revenue from using our information to advertise to use. For now I will enjoy the free services that Google, Facebook and many other sites have to offer. Google the world’s largest search giant...
Words: 2712 - Pages: 11
...Ethical issue The issue is whether it is ethical for Google to collect payload data using its Street View vehicles through unencrypted Wi-Fi network. Google's street view project was intended to capture images and also Wi-Fi data which are then used to map businesses and landmarks. However Google was found to be collecting 'payload' data which was unnecessary for its location database project. Numerous investigations ensued, questioning the ethicality of the Street View debacle. Theoretical Perspectives This section will look at 3 schools of ethical theories. From a virtue ethics point of view, though Google's s slogan "Don't Be Evil" and its Google Code of Conduct established a baseline for honest decision-making, it is more action-based rather than character based. Being an Internet service provider that handles an immense amount of data, Google should aspire to be an organisation that is honest and truthful. Therefore a virtue ethicist will say that Google's data sniffing debacle is unethical since it is against what a virtuous organisation ought to do. Consequentialist theories can be classified based on the type of consequences, the primary beneficiary of the action and if it is agent-centered or agent neutral (Frost). Using the theory of ethical egoism, the consequences for the agent are taken to matter more than any other result. In the design document of the Street View Project, it was stated that Wi-Fi data Google gathered would "be analyzed offline for use in other...
Words: 1537 - Pages: 7
...Contemporary Privacy Issues Report Introduction Privacy is one of the fundamental human rights, every individual should have full control over their personal information. However due to the continuous evolution of society and technology, the importance of a person's right to privacy has been eroded. This report discusses the contemporary privacy issues on different levels and areas, with specific focus on credit reporting, protection of customer’s private information by businesses, health records, internet data and government intelligence access to information. Sections of the current Privacy Act 1988, the new Australian Privacy Principles 2014, and legislations related to the topic areas mentioned above will also be discussed in detail, and the effectiveness of these laws will be analysed. A person's credit history contains a vast amount of personally sensitive information which have a high commercial value, therefore it is extremely important to ensure businesses adhere to the privacy act to prevent the unauthorised use of these information. Any misuse of information can cause great personal and financial harm to the victim. Privacy of health information is fundamental principle in health care. Lack of privacy information might result in people not seeking the health care they need which might be very risky to their own health and the health of others. The rate of technological development is accelerating too quickly and current laws are becoming irrelevant...
Words: 11809 - Pages: 48
...become an issue of concern. What are those concerns? I mean what is the big deal about privacy? There are many concerns when it comes to becoming a part of a social environment and posting information about you. As Dave Awl said, “An ounce of discretion is worth a ton of privacy setting” (Awl, 2009, p. 52), you compromise your privacy to so many people other than friends, family and business associates that are already given open access to your life. There are law enforcement, government agencies, hackers, predators and so many more that are also watching you on these sites. Although there are some privacy settings, as a general rule it is good to remember that if you post something on Facebook, there are no secrets. Bad behaviors on social sites have real-world consequences. Being on the internet there really is no privacy and it’s not a bad thing because something that someone could post or say may have an impact on many others in a positive way. This could have the opposite effect as well. The internet clearly has impacted the world unlike it ever has before in the past. What’s important is to be very careful what you do on the internet because people are watching all over the country, and in order to maintain some type of security for yourself you have to be very cautious. How is searching in a specific database, such as Ashford’s library, different from searching in Bing, Google, or Yahoo? Ashford’s...
Words: 606 - Pages: 3
...International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2014 ISSN 2250-3153 1 Employing Information Security Awareness to Minimize Over-Exposure of Average Internet User on Social Networks WorawitBinden*, MaheedeenJormae**, ZakariaZain***, Jamaludin Ibrahim**** worawit.inter@gmail.com*, maheedeen@gmail.com**, zakariazain13@gmail.com***, jamal55@gmail.com**** Department of Information Systems, Kulliyyah of Information and Communication Technology, International Islamic University Malaysia ABSTRACT-Use of Online Social Networking Sites (OSNs) has become ubiquitous nowadays. In the era of a million user social networking sites throughout the world, it becomes increasingly difficult for people to control what they are exposing to whom. In this paper we analyze the influence of social media interactivity features on the exposure of personal data of average Internet user and present techniques to implement information security awareness to minimize overexposure on OSNs. Index Terms-Online Social Networking, Information Security Awareness, Social Network Interactivity Features I. INTRODUCTION nformation is vital to communication and a critical resource for performing work in organizations. It is also important to individuals, and therefore the need to proper manage it well, is growing rapidly. Protecting data is as important as protecting cash as it is asset – and requires just as much care and planning. Now more than ever, people need...
Words: 4473 - Pages: 18
... Module 2 – Written Assignment 2 Thomas Edison State College Module 2 – Written Assignment 2 This paper describes why search engines and databases produce different types of queried results. Two (2) separate search tools were used and this paper attempts to explain why there are differences in search results obtained from each search tool and evaluate the quality of their search results. Module 2 – Written Assignment 2 Searching for information via the Internet will always produce invariable results. This notion can be exaggerated depending upon the tools one uses to query for information. That is not to say that the Internet cannot be used as a valuable research tool. On the contrary, studies have been conducted to support the use of Internet-based research in many fields, including the medical field (Ahern, 2005). While the Internet search engine can be a powerful tool for research, it should be noted that not all search engine tools are created equal. Different Internet search engines will in fact return different results. Therefore, great care must be taken to ensure that the appropriate search engine is chosen for the job. Some of the different types of search engines include: Crawlers, Directories, Meta, Hybrid and Specialty. Search query options enable users to refine their searches in an attempt to find more relevant information. These particular options vary according to the search engine. Additionally, each search engine uses a different...
Words: 904 - Pages: 4
... TOPIC: INTERNET CHALLENGES TO PRIVACY Challenges is a way of testing your abilities in an interesting way, what I believe challenges always is a way of moving someone from one point to another or from one level to another. Challenges is a course of promoting our product and services. INTRODUCTION We use social media to electronically communicate with family, friends, customers, and business associates- using web sites for social networking and microblogging such as twitter, LinkedIn, face book, and Instagram. With social media you share and exchange information, ideas, pictures, and videos. The electronic communication strengthens both our personal and professional relationship and all these communications need privacy. Normally privacy can be define as the condition or quality of being private from the occurrence of others. In our days, internet has face different challenges to protect the privacy of its customers. Information passes in different computer systems before reaches the ending target. And every each systems is required to be monitored, capture, and store communications that go by through it. For example there are tiny files set down on a computer called cookies. When a user visits certain website it recognize the visitor. Cookies and other web monitoring tools closely track the activities of the web site visitors. Internet technology has posed new challenges for the protection of individual privacy. Information sent over...
Words: 2199 - Pages: 9
