In the 1998 movie, "Enemy of the State", actor Will Smith's
personal privacy is invaded by his own government using high
technology devices planted in his home, office and even on his
person. Sounds far fetched? The technology does exist to do
everything portrayed in the movie and much more. The only
difference between the movie and real life is that unlike the
movie where government agents physically entered the home and
office of Smith, this is not necessary to breach the privacy of
any citizen.
If you are like most individuals, you have unknowingly
permitted yourself to be tracked, documented and your privacy
breached in exchange for living a life of convenience. When you
sign applications and agreements for your credit cards, bank
accounts, vehicle leases and mortgages have you really read the
fine print? The fine print in most cases states that you give
your permission to have your personal information collected by,
"exchanged" with, and even sold to third parties throughout the
course of your business dealings. Do you belong to a reward
points or discount program? The fine print of the agreement may
allow program operators to track your spending habits (where and
what you buy), allow them to share and even sell this
information to third parties and put you on mailing and
telephone solicitation lists of companies you've never heard of.
While this may seem more of an inconvenience than an invasion
of privacy consider the case of Mr. X. Mr. X had signed up for a
reward points program linked to his credit card. This meant
everywhere and every time he used his credit card he would get
points for all of his transactions to be used towards vacations,
gasoline and a new car. Mr. X was in line for a promotion with
his firm, a major multi-national corporation. As part of the
selection process he would have to submit to a background check
and security clearance. The firm conducting the check performed
what is known as a character lifestyle check and through their
sources were able to obtain a record of Mr. X's spending habits
over a two year period as documented by the reward points
program he had enrolled in. It was noted by an entry on his
spending record that he had on one occasion frequented a small
retail establishment whose operator had been convicted of child
pornography. As a result, Mr. X was not given a clearance for
the promotion and was later released from the firm's employ.
Further investigation found that the establishment in question
was a convenience store chain where Mr. X purchased a box of
chocolates for his wife's birthday. This was the one and only
documented time he had entered this establishment.
Similar tracking of individuals is also done via their personal
computers. In this case, most individuals are all too quick to
breeze through the Terms of Service posted on websites and in
software and as a result surrender their privacy all too easily.
People who do any form of online commerce from ordering
merchandise off of a website, to online banking and stock
trading are often tracked by having small files placed on their
computers without their knowledge, known as cookies to gather
and track personal and personal preference information. By
accepting the Terms of Service users agree to have the cookies
placed on their computer. Although the word "cookie" may not be
specifically used in the text of the document. Cookies, also
known in the computer security world as Spyware may provide
information about the computer owners name, address, telephone
number and e-mail address all culled from information provided
by the users themselves when they first registered their
computer operating system and software. Additional information
may be obtained on the type of software and computer used,
websites visited, Internet searches performed and total time
spent at the computer.
As well, Internet Service Providers and e-mail providers may
also keep tabs on users by monitoring account activity. Account
activity of this nature would include received and sent e-mail
addresses, websites visited and an inventory of all of the
software installed on the computer. Information obtained from
the use of Spyware and the monitoring of account activity are
routinely justified in the corporate world as processes designed
to selectively send specific advertising offers that users may
be interested in based on their "tracked" previous purchases or
activity and to ensure the quality of services delivered to
users by monitoring user access activity.
However, information accessed by or sold to the wrong hands
could be devastating to an individual. An example of this
occurred when Ms. Y, a grade school teacher had her name come up
on an e-mail mailing list associated with a contraband
prescription drugs operation that had been seized during a raid.
Although it had been later found that Ms. Y, like many others on
the list were simply targeted victims of a mass e-mail
solicitation list, the fact that information from her e-mail
account provider indicated the receipt of a message from the
operation and a sent reply message that could have raised
further suspicion. However, given that the e-mail activity log
did not store the body of the message and Ms. Y's explanation of
the reply simply being a request to be removed from the mailing
list seemed credible given no other communiqués were logged.
More importantly, Ms. Y would have never been placed on the list
if the health related website she registered with as a user had
not sold her information to an e-mail marketing firm who later
re-sold it to the contraband drugs operator.
While most may find comfort in privacy laws directed towards
protecting personal information collected by firms in the course
of doing business with and servicing their customers, there is
little refuge or comfort when an individual is confronted with
accepting the terms of the fine print in their user agreements
or to be forever without service.
So you say you can't imagine your life without your cellular
telephone. If you are like most people, you keep your cellular
on as you go about your business every day. Did you know that
using just the signal from your cellular telephone and its
unique electronic identification number that your whereabouts
within a 4 city block radius can be easily time stamped to the
second, dated and determined. This capability of passively
tracking and recording the whereabouts of individuals has been
effectively used as supporting evidence to place or not to place
suspects at or near the scenes of crimes. Call records of
cellular telephones have also been instrumental in keeping
people in and out of jail as well when it comes to alibis. The
same holds true for the detailed billing feature of monthly
cellular bills, you know . . . that listing of date, time and
telephone number called or received. The detailed billing
feature has been the demise of many an unfaithful spouse. As one
U.S. intelligence official once said, "... cellular telephones
are one of the greatest surveillance advancements of our time.
They enable unobtrusive surveillance of practically anyone at
anytime."
So perhaps you're thinking you should just turn your cellular
telephone off and maybe spend some time just taking a walk to
the mall and having a quiet cup of coffee in the food court.
Look up, way up! Do you see those shiny black domes in the
ceiling, or those boxes with black glass or the obvious camera
in a white or grey box hanging off of a post? You see them on
street corners, in malls, office buildings, transit stations and
highways. You are under surveillance and your presence is being
recorded, dated and time stamped. Security video camera
surveillance is more widespread in major cities than the public
thinks. If you live or work in downtown Montreal, Ottawa,
Toronto or Vancouver a typical one way trip will cause your
image to be recorded an average of 9 times by 7 independent
video surveillance systems. 85% of video surveillance systems
are owned and operated by corporations for use on their property
such as malls and office buildings, with no legislated
guidelines on what they can do with this recorded surveillance
data. Security video recordings are kept an average of 3 months
before they are erased or purged.
To get away from it all you may consider a quiet drive in the
country, far removed from the hustle, the bustle and those
privacy invaders but . . . you can run but you can't hide. Most
new vehicles come equipped with a safety option that allows you
to be in instant live two-way communication with a dispatch
centre should you have an accident or just get lost. This
service will not only talk you through your emergency but also
unlock your doors if you are locked out and will even pinpoint
the exact location of your vehicle using GPS satellite tracking
if it is stolen. GPS satellite tracking is the same technology
used by the military and just like military targets; your
vehicle's location can be determined within 3 metres. Similar
in-vehicle security only systems also use GPS to track and
locate stolen vehicles. This technology is not only available as
an option when you purchase your new or used vehicle but is now
standard equipment on most vehicles you may rent for that
weekend getaway.
Although the safety and security benefits of these devices are
numerous, so are the privacy risks. One area of concern is that
the in-vehicle two-way communication feature can be activated by
the dispatch centre without the vehicle occupants being aware
that every word they say can be monitored and recorded. Moving
vehicles and their parked locations can also be determined
without any occupant knowledge. During the past few years there
have been documented cases where law enforcement agencies have
utilized such means as an aid to conventional surveillance
methods.
The real ability to put an average citizen under surveillance,
collect personal information and invade privacy used to be the
sole domain of governments about 25 years ago. However, with the
accessibility to, and affordability of technology, the ability
albeit in a limited way to track and create dossiers on
individuals by corporate snoops and even private individuals is
an easy task. Bearing in mind that unlike governments, private
corporations and individuals acting alone or on behalf of
someone else are not bound by such stringent controls to protect
the democratic rights and freedoms of citizens. While privacy
and personal information laws do dictate how businesses must
store and disseminate information pertaining to their customers,
loopholes are easily created by fine print user agreements and
the acceptance by the potential customer of the user agreement
is demanded in order to obtain service from the business in
question.
Unlike governments, private corporations and individuals are
able to operate in grey or open areas of the law in collecting
and comparing information from other private corporations and
individuals with minimal checks and balances. Furthermore, when
one considers that despite legislation and codes of conduct, the
bottom line is that there will always be someone who knows
someone, who knows someone else who can obtain the required
information through a low level contact with access to the
requested information. If this sounds funny, don't laugh because
any street savvy privateer will reluctantly admit that this is
how things really get done.
Personal privacy must start and stop with the individual. You
must carefully review service agreements before accepting them.
Is the service, product or convenience you are interested in
really worth giving up some of your privacy? Do you really want
to give someone the potential ability to track your movements on
a daily basis?
Just a final thought . . . don't be surprised if a total
stranger comes up to you one day and can tell you what colour
you prefer in underwear, where you shop, that you take the long
way home and that you would be able to call your mother more
often if you didn't stay so long on your computer. Only you have
the power to not let this happen.
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