Privacy Issues part 4 Information/data privacy CS 340 Fall 2015

Privacy As consumers: Most European countries have specific laws and regulations aimed at protecting an individual’s (consumer) privacy. In the US, historically consumer privacy has relied on social norms and market forces laws are typically a last resort or response to an event highly reactive and unsystematic

Misc. Privacy Laws Fair Credit Reporting Act, 1970 Right to Financial Privacy Act, 1978 Cable Communications Policy Act, 1984 Video Protection Privacy Act, 1988 Driver’s Protection Privacy Act, 1994 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 1998 Info on kids under 13 Financial Services Modernization Act, 1999 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), 2001

Texas Infant DNA collection program, p. 96-97 Routine and often mandatory blood samples collected after birth. Reason? What happens to the samples after processed? Discarded OR Stored indefinitely See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3065077/table/T1/ Motivations? Detect important health problems Later identification Are parents informed? Not always. Raises ethical issues This is not limited to Texas… overview http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3065077/ Recent issue in Indiana http://www.wthr.com/story/25954821/2014/07/07/your-childs-dna-who-has-it Alabama policy: http://www.babysfirsttest.org/newborn-screening/states/alabama (new link)

Texas’ use of the newborn blood test cards to catalogue information unrelated to that infant’s direct health care is an example of a secondary use of information. True False

Opinion: Suppose a public school provides students with laptops Opinion: Suppose a public school provides students with laptops. Should that school be able to turn on a web cam on the laptop to check on a student’s off campus behavior? Yes Maybe No

Robbins v. Lower Merion School District, p. 98-99 US District Court PA (2010) School district surreptitiously activated webcams using LANrev on laptops provided to students while students were off campus Video: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/6 10k-settlement-in-school- webcam-spy-case/ Settlement: $610,000

Lotame: Data Management Intelligence http://www.lotame.com/news-resources/ Old video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzdEiKgamMM

Online tracking devices Cookies: small text file that stores information Stored client side, on hard drive Cookie creator: Lou Montulli Originally To allow for shopping cart functionality (online memory) Effort made to not allow the sharing of these between sites Now Third party cookies: site to site Behavioral Targeting: ad network; relationship with same advertiser http://live.wsj.com/video/how-advertisers-use-internet-cookies-to-track-you/92E525EB-9E4A-4399-817D-8C4E6EF68F93.html#!92E525EB-9E4A-4399-817D-8C4E6EF68F93

Third Party tracking files “The first time a site is visited, it installs a tracking file, which assigns the computer a unique ID number. Later, when the user visits another site affiliated with the same tracking company, it can take note of where that user was before, and where he is now. This way, over time the company can build a robust profile.”

Online tracking devices cont’d Beacons a.k.a. pixel tag, web bug Invisible image embedded in webpage Image is not place there by website, but by other company for ad tracking Potentials: Capture of what is typed on a website Bundles into a profile http://www.brighttag.com/resources/tag-101/

WSJ article: “The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets” Info on Ashley Hayes- Beaty: 4c812db292272995e541 6a323e79bd37 Valued at $0.001 http://online.wsj.com/n ews/articles/SB1000142 40527487039409045753 95073512989404

The WSJ study findings Surreptitious installation of tracking technology Not just cookies, but real time logging Buying and selling of profiles Advertisers: No longer paying for ad placement on a site Paying instead to follow users around Internet with personalized marketing messages

Online advertiser tracking companies “considered anonymous because it identifies web browsers, not individuals.” https://www.privatewifi.com/lotame-online-tracking-and-your-privacy/ What is tracked: http://www.bluekai.com/consumers_privacyguidelines.php Opt out options: BlueKai http://www.bluekai.com/registry/ Lotame http://www.lotame.com/privacy

Taking control of the tracking Tracking blockers like Ghostery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKzyifAvC_U

Which tracking technology is a transparent 1x1 pixel used to surreptitiously gather what people type? Cookie Beacon Third Party Cookie Ghostery