Internet privacy concerns and protections

Internet Privacy

The Internet has become nowadays more and more a part of our lives. Business is transacted online, relationships are maintain through this virtual global space, the public services of most administrations use this service to interact with the citizens and make their implication in the tax system easier and more direct. At the same time however, there are arguments that consider such an exposure to be a negative result of the globalization process. In this sense, many have argued that email services, web queries, or even online polls are in fact an invasion of privacy. The federal government has constantly tried to impose restrictions on the degree of privacy online, considering the fact that the new system of security also involves the surveillance of internet communication. Therefore, taking all this into consideration, there is a large debate over the level of privacy a person should benefit from on the internet, and to what extent should the authorities control and monitor the private lives of the individuals that decided to use the internet world wide.

The Internet is considered to be one of the greatest achievements of technology. It was indeed a revolution in terms of communication and the sharing of information. On the one hand, it enabled people to interact with individuals from the opposite corners of the globe in a matter of seconds, without the need of any additional hardware aside from a wire and a modem. This proved to be essential in an era that is marked, in the last decades, by an increase need for communication and personal contact due to the lack of personalization of other sort of relationships. Therefore, many people have defied the barriers of distance and are able to keep friendships and maintain relationships with the help of one click.

Still as a result of this trend of the globalization, the internet had facilitated the interaction between the state and the members of the society. A simple example is the system which enables the population to assume its role as proper tax payers. In this respect, the government relies more and more on the facility to collect money from the population via the internet.(Public Records on the Internet, 2006) This is a time effective system and represents a comfortable means for the individual to pay its dues to the state without being forced to wait in line. Therefore, from this perspective, the internet is a time effective means of interaction and a positive presence in everyday life.

On the other side of the debate, there are those who argue and point out on similar lines, as they try to advocate and underline the exact negative impact of the practices the internet facilitates.

The possibility of communicating with friends from around the world is indeed a good means through which one keeps long distance relationships. However, the opponents of such a service argue, in time, the personal nature of every communication tends to fade and these types of relationships tend to transform themselves in a mechanic practice in which the individual becomes just another internet user who expresses itself through the standard means of different chat programs or emailing services. (Macura, 2007) in this way, much of the personal nature of the message is lost and the act of communication becomes void of personal content.

In regard to the possibility for citizens to interact with the authorities via the internet, this too has multiple side effects, according to its adversaries. Therefore, many consider that when people choose the privacy of their own home for stating their opinion via internet forums, pay their bills through online transactions, there will be "less participation in public life (...) dossier society, growing number of disenfranchised individuals." (Public records on the Internet, 2006)

Despite these worrying effect, there is an aspect that draws the attention of internet users and which is constantly invoked by those arguing against the internet as a global network for communication. In the light of the perspective terrorism has created related to the national security strategy, the internet represents one of the means of communication most watched over by the governments and its agencies. In this sense, internet privacy represents a challenge indeed.

Internet privacy is a relatively new term and the definitions are therefore rather scarce or general. For instance, it can be defined as "the ability of individuals to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others." (Givens, 1999) in this sense, privacy is a matter of personal choice and is therefore subject to prior agreement from the individual. However, considering the fact that the internet is a global network in which high technology plays the most important role and without which none of the benefits of communication would be possible, it is rather hard to control the degree to which one's privacy is violated.

One of the most important players in the debate over internet privacy is the federal government. The terrorist threat represented a powerful alarm signal for the defense system, with everything it encompasses, and redefined the strategy of surveillance as a means of obtaining information. In this sense, every person can be placed under analysis and its privacy can be, in different circumstances, violated. The debate thus focus on the definition of these circumstances and the degree to which the government can exercise its authority in terms of acquiring confidential information, storing them, and eventually using them in different situations.

There are those that consider a legislative limitation as being a proper means for dealing with the eventuality of abuses in this case. For instance, when undergoing online transactions, specific private information is being gathered by the respective website, information that can be used in other purposes than intended. In order to prevent such abuses, the Congress focuses on passing laws that would limit their use. (Jones and McCarthy, 2001) This would be a solution for protecting the personal nature of information from potential private abuses.