Safe and Private Data

Computers and PrivacyDatabasesYour Private RightsCookies

No Secrets: Computers and Privacy

The Privacy Problem

Big Brother and Big Business

The Privacy Problem

The typical American consumer is on 25 marketing lists.

Data about your age, income, religion, health, political affiliation, travel activity, sexual preference, and much more exists on databases.

You live in an information age.

Data about you is bought, sold, and traded.

Big Brother and Big Business

Governments uses record matching to locate criminals.

Not all data in the databases is accurate.

Erroneous data is nearly impossible to correct.

Data is not secure from misuse and abuse.

Databases on high-speed computers are networked across the globe. The shared data brings benefits and risks:

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Data Banks

Every time you use a credit card to make a purchase, telephone an 800 or 900 number, order from a catalog, buy or rent a car, reserve a hotel room or airline ticket, visit a doctor, go to the hospital, apply for insurance, take out a mortgage, seek a loan-- in effect, engage in almost any transaction- you give information about yourself

This information is worth millions of $$$

Caller Id Controversy

gathers personal data from customers

benefits: obscene callers ....critics: people need to keep their

anonymitypeople who call AIDS hot lines,

callers from crime reports, probation officers

Technology risks

The belief that whatever comes out of the computer must be accurate.

Credit bureaus know intimate financial details about you

extremely easy for others to obtain this information

the need for an informed citizenryvigilance is the price of freedom

Rules of Thumb: Your Private Rights

Your social security number should only be given to legitimate persons or agencies.

Don’t give away information about yourself. Don’t fill out coupons, surveys, sweepstakes entries

Say “no” to direct mail and phone solicitations. (“I never purchase or donate anything as a result of phone solicitations”) ask them to be removed from the list

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Rules of Thumb: Your Private Rights

To maximize privacy, minimize your electronic transactions. To maximize your privacy, minimize your profile (cash, unlisted number and P.O. box)

Make sure data about you is correct and not damaging.

Know your privacy rights. Support privacy rights organizations.

Your Private Rights

If solicitors call within 12 months of being specifically told not to, you can sue and recover up to $500 per call according to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991.

Getting Off Mailing List

Send back unwanted letters along with “Take me off your list” requests in the postage paid envelopes that come with them.

You can remove your name from many lists by sending your name, address and phone number to:

Getting Off of Mailing Lists

Mail Preference Service/Phone Preference ServiceDirect Mail Marketing Association6 East 43rd StreetNew York, NY 10017

Data Security

Sensitive personal and corporate data are not exposed to any kind of risk

data must be accurate - database integrity

example - the waste of direct mailers that never get to the intended consumer (deceased, moved, pet name)

false invoices deposited into company’s db by unscrupulous employee

What is a Cookie?

“Cookies on the Web”Analogy - Caller ID - It tells the person on

the other end what your phone number isCookies are pretty much the same thingA web site can tell, who you are by

looking at its cookieA cookie is just some letters and numbers

stored in your browser

The Information obtained from a Cookie

Anything you tell or do at a web site that uses cookies it will remember the next time you visit

Example: If you type in your name and address at the web site it will remember the information the next time you visit or it can remember the pages you visited

What are Cookies used for?

It is a convenient way for web sites to maintain information on users

It sets your personal preferences for that site and avoids retyping the information again

Cookies and Browsers

Web Browsers (Netscape & IE) set aside a small amount of space on your hard drive

The Browser checks to see if you have any predefined preference (i.e cookie) for that server

If you do, it sends the cookie to the server along with the request for the web page

Cookies and Marketing

This information and choices can be used to provide you with more direct marketing information

This is why people are nervous about over-commercialization and privacy issues

An Example of a Cookie

Suppose you visit http://www.joegarage.com Joe’s Garage uses cookiesYou type in your name and address and you

browse Joe’s page on all about oil changesNow, Joe knows that you are interested in oil

changes and he has your address so he sends you a coupon for a half-price oil change in mail

Cookies and Privacy

But note that the cookie cannot obtain more information than what you gave, for example it cannot get your email address unless you gave it

And only the web server which put the cookie on your browser can use it

Cookies and Privacy

If you use Netscape you can tell when a web site is trying to “pull” a cookie on you

Under Netscape Edit Menu --> Preferences --> Advanced, a dialog window will appear with one indented box labeled cookies

There are 4 options here to select fromPerhaps the safest way is to check the option

that warns before accepting a cookieUp to now the cookies are benign