Privacy International (PI) is a human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations. PI has conducted campaigns and research globally on issues ranging from wiretapping and national security, to ID cards, video surveillance, data matching, medical privacy and freedom of information and expression. Dr Gus Hosein, Senior Fellow with Privacy International, spoke with Ninad D Sheth. Excerpts:
What are the major privacy issues facing the Internet?
The first threat is storage and use of your ‘transactional data’, which is regarding your navigation of the web, who you send emails to and when, who you communicate with and where you are, and what you search for, what entertainment you seek, what items you read. The second threat is monitoring of communications and this is done by both Companies and governments. Companies want to advertise to you (like Gmail) and governments want to know what you are up to. A third concern of privacy is advanced services and applications. Social networking sites potentially hold much information about you, though some do calendaring and email services done by third parties. In fact, any service that stores your personal information on a central server, particularly when that information was previously held on your own computer (email, calendar, journal, etc.) may be open to abuse.
Government policy in countries such as China has caused concern that privacy if ignored could land people in jail! Is it true that the Chinese government has substantial staff dedicated to snooping on net users?
China certainly leads the world in this domain. But according to reports, Saudi Arabia is not very far behind. Many countries are expending more and more resources to enhance their internet surveillance capacities.
How important is Internet privacy for corporations? How easy is it to snoop on non-public networks for enforcement and other state bodies?
It is a highly competitive market environment and there is great concern whenever Companies risk losing control over their own information. If governments and other Companies discover product development plans, accounts information or strategic plans, this could be devastating.
How easy is it to snoop?
Increasingly Companies are making use of public networks for communication. Like, Companies make use of the public telephone network. So, when governments want to snoop on their conversations, they only need to approach the third-party company with a warrant. This way, Companies will not know that their privacy is being invaded.
You have been critical of Google as far as standards of privacy are concerned. Does the stand still exist?
We expressed concerns about the industry as a whole. In recent months, we have been engaging with these Companies, including Google, and we have noticed that many of these Companies truly want to make their services more privacy friendly. They are realising that their entire business models rely on consumer confidence and trust.
How serious is the threat of a rogue employee in one of the search firms?
Rogue employees with access to the company’s files have been a threat. With advanced networking, it is increasingly becoming easy for information to be removed from organisations without any knowledge to security officials. One should also be wary of the ‘stupid employee’. There are cases of employees leaving laptops and other confidential information unattended. Companies must take steps to secure data within and beyond their network.
What are the major privacy issues facing the Internet?
The first threat is storage and use of your ‘transactional data’, which is regarding your navigation of the web, who you send emails to and when, who you communicate with and where you are, and what you search for, what entertainment you seek, what items you read. The second threat is monitoring of communications and this is done by both Companies and governments. Companies want to advertise to you (like Gmail) and governments want to know what you are up to. A third concern of privacy is advanced services and applications. Social networking sites potentially hold much information about you, though some do calendaring and email services done by third parties. In fact, any service that stores your personal information on a central server, particularly when that information was previously held on your own computer (email, calendar, journal, etc.) may be open to abuse.
Government policy in countries such as China has caused concern that privacy if ignored could land people in jail! Is it true that the Chinese government has substantial staff dedicated to snooping on net users?
China certainly leads the world in this domain. But according to reports, Saudi Arabia is not very far behind. Many countries are expending more and more resources to enhance their internet surveillance capacities.
How important is Internet privacy for corporations? How easy is it to snoop on non-public networks for enforcement and other state bodies?
It is a highly competitive market environment and there is great concern whenever Companies risk losing control over their own information. If governments and other Companies discover product development plans, accounts information or strategic plans, this could be devastating.
How easy is it to snoop?
Increasingly Companies are making use of public networks for communication. Like, Companies make use of the public telephone network. So, when governments want to snoop on their conversations, they only need to approach the third-party company with a warrant. This way, Companies will not know that their privacy is being invaded.
You have been critical of Google as far as standards of privacy are concerned. Does the stand still exist?
We expressed concerns about the industry as a whole. In recent months, we have been engaging with these Companies, including Google, and we have noticed that many of these Companies truly want to make their services more privacy friendly. They are realising that their entire business models rely on consumer confidence and trust.
How serious is the threat of a rogue employee in one of the search firms?
Rogue employees with access to the company’s files have been a threat. With advanced networking, it is increasingly becoming easy for information to be removed from organisations without any knowledge to security officials. One should also be wary of the ‘stupid employee’. There are cases of employees leaving laptops and other confidential information unattended. Companies must take steps to secure data within and beyond their network.
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