‘Friction-Free Information’ Rubs Some The Wrong Way New Forms Of Communication Add Fuel To Debate Over Privacy
Contrary to rumors, it’s not possible to pull credit, driving and criminal records off the Internet with just a few strokes of the keyboard. The information is there, but companies charge serious money to see it.
Very little aside from e-mail addresses and sometimes phone numbers is actually available for free online. Even the recent book “Net Spy,” which promises to tell readers how to “find out anything you ever wanted to know about anybody,” turned out to be a listing of hundreds of mostly pay-per-use information sources.
In fact, on-line advocates point out that it’s not the Internet itself that is a danger to privacy, but the vast quantities of information being compiled by corporations.
“Bill Gates has talked about friction-free capitalism, but now there’s friction-free information. Suddenly there’s no friction keeping your information in only one company or city,” said Esther Dyson, chairwoman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based civil liberties group.
Still, the conveniences of modern life often result in trade-offs, she pointed out. Individuals have a choice of what they reveal, “but they also have to live in the real world and if they want credit they’re going to need to release some information about themselves,” she said.
The controversy over privacy surfaced recently when messages began flooding the Internet claiming the Lexis-Nexis “P-TRAK” database service included Social Security numbers. In fact, the company only made Social Security numbers available through its pay service for a short time before removing them in June.
The rumor, however, created its own wave of concern, given that a criminal could easily open a line of credit with an individual’s full name and Social Security number.
In response to public concern, the Federal Trade Commission has suggested that Congress tighten the restrictions on information that can be obtained from consumer credit bureaus through an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
It would protect Social Security numbers, mothers’ maiden names, prior addresses and birth dates. The act is being reviewed by the banking subcommittee and members hope to introduce a measure soon.
The Internet community is also weighing in with solutions. One, called eTrust, is a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation that would rate Web sites by the degree of privacy offered to users, backed up by formal audits.
Beginning January 1, Web surfers would see an eTrust logo on sites taking part in the plan, telling them how any information they might choose to make available would be used.
The plan offers three levels of privacy: total anonymity, information gathered only for internal use, and information gathered for marketing purposes.
“It would add informed consent to the process,” said the EFF’s Stanton McCandlish.