Ow is the internet privacy being attacked now-a-days - Essay Example

Q1. According to the how is the internet privacy being attacked now-a-days? What are the dangers involved with the loss of privacy? To whatextent—if at all—do you think the authors are correct about their concerns? The internet privacy is under attack through identity theft, which has become so common that more than 10 million people were made target of identity theft in 2005 in the U.S. only. The major risk of identity theft is not from computer users but from the companies’ security systems, keeping detailed histories of individual information, such as credit statements, critical social security and driving license numbers.

This internet theft causes huge losses to the companies, as thieves know about the product choices of individuals, which helps them in stealing. Private information about people is targeted through hacking by compromising the systems of companies, as it happened in May 2006 when detailed individual information of twenty-six million military veterans was stolen. Attack on individual privacy is violation of a person’s right over such information. It is a criminal act, which has endangered the right to privacy.

As consumers of products, individuals are almost feeling like they are on the two-edged sword of privacy and violation. Danger is from such wicked people bent on stealing personal information by any possible means, such as inspecting the papers thrown in garbage for reading the bank account numbers and by sorting through the online trails. Once, such criminals get their hands on the bank account numbers of the customers, they start interacting with the bank officials, pretending to be bank customers.

Such news is common that after getting access to critical banking information, customers’ mobile numbers are declared non-operative, indicating that the SIM card of that mobile number has lost. New SIM cards are presented to the bank so that when the bank’s online system sends a new password to transact online, that messaged password is used by criminals to operate the bank account online. It has been happening, as one reads through newspapers. Such risks end up in financial frauds when to the surprise of the bank account holder, the account shows zero balance, as all funds have been transferred by such unscrupulous elements.

Financial frauds are not the only danger of the theft of personal information. Personal life of the common man has been taken for granted by corporations for their product promotion timing and stock-keeping even with the invention of Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs). These are tiny microchips with small antennas embedded on the bar codes of all types of products. This way, manufacturers can trace the product to know the consumption pattern and time so that new stock could be made available.

Online sale of RFIDs products helps in storing the consumer data through the credit card for that product use. Suddenly databases have gained significance, as all information is stored in databases of the companies, which are on the hit lists of cyber criminals for using that information to fulfill their nefarious aims. Future holds the key how the critical information gathered by government agencies and corporations is going to be misused through cyber frauds. Dangers, therefore, are that companies might misuse this information or could be sold to third parties for earning bucks by the employees of such corporations.

Nevertheless, the more important question is the legal aspect of the issue of privacy, as the right of a person is taken away without the knowledge of that person. Therefore, dangers are both at personal level and financial level. There is no guarantee that financial dangers can be avoided even if consumers are alert enough because the systems of services providers are not robust enough to keep cyber criminals away. At the same time, the right to personal privacy is in danger for totally different reasons of corporations using RFID technology to get business leverage.

The authors are fully correct about their concerns for attack on individual privacy for stealing financial information through mobile numbers and passwords. It is a genuine concern, as no one would want such things to happen at their cost. It is the prime responsibility of financial companies to create awareness on maintaining secrecy of their customers’ bank account information. Hackers are always on the search of finding new means, which the same technology provides to them of corrupting account information by stealing a person’s identity.

Systems of financial firms need to be robust enough to protect the possibility of identity theft. At the personal level, companies desire to use customer information without informing customers, which is totally wrong. Various uses of RFIDs need to be controlled for misusing the information. Companies should openly declare their intentions of using the personal information. Generally, it is seen that personal information of customers is sold to third parties for monetary benefits without taking customers into confidence.

This is a wrong practice. It should be legally punishable. At government level also, systems’ security needs to be given top priority so that cyber crimes are not repeated, as it happened in 2005, when hackers compromised the systems of big financial companies, such as Bank of America, Ameritrade, Cityfinancial, Time Warner, and other companies.