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Internet Privacy
Last Updated on Friday, 09 November 2007 18:42
The Internet World
The Internet promises to change the way you live, work and play. You can have a different lifestyle and do many things all in the comfort of your home. With just some keystrokes, you can "visit" a museum, catch the latest news, enter a chat room for a discussion, learn about parenting, search for a travel bargain, purchase a book or CD, start a part-time business and also e-mail to a friend at a distant country.
Pitfalls on the Internet
While the Internet offers new opportunities, there is also a dark side to it. Dangers lurk in waiting for the unwary. Your privacy may be invaded. You may be deceived by Internet hoaxes and scams. You may even become the victim of new forms of criminal activities such as cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment.
Protection Measures
The benefits of venturing into cyberspace far outweigh the risks. And the reassuring fact is - you can do something to protect yourself on the Internet! This article will highlight some precautions one can take to make surfing and shopping on the Internet a more pleasant and rewarding experience.
DO-
- be wary of email warnings on computer viruses or appeals for donations, etc. Unless you are able to independently verify the truth of these warnings or appeals, it is best to ignore them. They are probably hoaxes.
- check out a site's privacy policy. It indicates how it will collect and use information about you after you have logon to that site. The best web sites display them conspicuously and give you the right to minimise the disclosure of such information.
- deal only with companies that you trust and know. Be wary of online businesses that operate in another part of the world where different rules and laws may apply in a dispute and the cost of resolving such cross-border transactions can be expensive and difficult.
- consult the list of web-based retailers approved by accreditation bodies such as The Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.com) or TRUSTe (www.truste.com). Locally, we have CaseTrust (www.casetrust.com.sg) who looks out for local retailers who engage in good business practices. They display the CaseTrust logo on their web site.
- report to the police if you are deceived or defrauded on-line. Criminal and consumer protection laws apply to Internet transactions too.
- rely on references. Ask your friends, read up books, magazines and newspapers to find out those web sites that you can safely visit and enjoy.
consider signing up for a free web-based e-mail account. In the event, you encounter any harassment that you cannot get rid of on the Internet, you can always abandon the email account without much hassle or cost. Free web-based email accounts can be obtained from service providers such as Hotmail (www.hotmail.com) and Yahoo (www.yahoo.com).
DO NOT-
- disclose anything sensitive (e.g. your password) over an email. While email is relatively private, it is not completely so.
- post to newsgroups if you do not intend to make public your email address. It is from newsgroup postings that many spammers (i.e. people who send you junk email) get your address.
- respond to emails sent by spammers or to people you do not know.
- openly reveal your credit card number when shopping online. Unless the company is using a secure or encrypted method to process your order, your credit card information may be sniffed by a third party while in transit.
- believe an offer if it seems too good to be true. It probably isn't. In particular, beware of any touting of products or investment opportunities you learn about in chat rooms, newsgroups or bulletin boards. Online newsletters, bulletin boards and chat rooms provide the perfect forum for unscrupulous con artists to plan false information about companies.
INTERNET COOKIES
What are Internet Cookies
Cookies are small data structures used by a web site (server) to deliver data to a web client (user); request that the client store the information; and in certain circumstances, return the information to the web site. Web sites can thus "remember" information about users to facilitate their preferences for a particular site and allow the use of user passwords. The web site may deliver one or more cookies to the client. The client stores cookie data in one or more flat files on its local hard drive.
Cookies allow web sites to maintain user information across HTTP connections. The current HTTP protocol is "stateless," meaning that the server does not store any information about a particular HTTP transaction; each connection is "fresh" and has no knowledge of any other HTTP transaction. "State" information is information about a communication between a user and a server, similar in many ways to frequent flyer profiles or option settings in desktop software. (For example, a preference for aisle or window seats is cookie-like information that a frequent-flyer program might store about its customers.) In some cases it is useful to maintain state information about the user across HTTP transactions.
You can configure your web browser to handle cookies in the way you want. See below to find out how to do it.
The following links provide more information about cookies and privacy:
Cookies and Privacy Frequently Asked Questions
Managing Cookies in Browsers
a. Cookie Choices in Netscape Browser
Beginning with version 4.0, Netscape Navigator gave users the power to control cookies. In Netscape 4.0 and higher, use the following sequence to configure your cookies preference:
- · Click on "Edit" - "Preferences" - "Advanced Settings"
- · Select one of the following listed items:
-Accept all cookies.
-Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server.
-Disable cookies.
Another option is for Navigator to warn you before accepting a cookie. Every time there is an incoming cookie, a dialog box will ask if you want to accept it.
b. Cookie Choices in Internet Explorer (IE) Browser
You can configure IE to either accept all cookies or to alert you every time a cookie is offered. You can then decide whether to accept it.
In IE 5.0:
- · Click on "Tools" - "Internet Options" - "Security" - "Internet" - "Custom Level"
- · Scroll down to Cookies and choose one of the two options.
In IE 4.0:
- · Click on "View" - "Internet Options" - "Advanced"
- · Scroll down to the yellow exclamation icon under Security and choose one of the three listed options to regulate your use of cookies.
IE offers five levels of security settings ranging from High to Custom. These settings controls whether executable content such as Active X controls, Java Applets, Javascript and VBScript programs will be automatically executed by the browser. You can outright disallow the execution of such active content (High Security) or you can configure the browser to prompt you when such content is encountered (Medium Security).
A possible concern of a user could be that a rouge web application is able to access the cookie file on the user computer hardisk. This risk would be mitigated by having a security setting of at least "Medium" for IE.
The Use of Cookies in Web Applications
Web based email applications such as those offered by Microsoft HotMail and Netscape WebMail require the use of cookies in order to make the use of their service easier and also to let them keep track of certain statistical information. Such sites will have a Privacy Policy or Privacy Statement which a user can read to have an understanding of what the site is doing to protect the privacy of users who sign up for their services.
Netscape Webmail Privacy Policy
Microsoft Hotmail Privacy Statement
In order to use such services the user will have to decide whether they trust such sites and tweak their cookies setting accordingly.
Refer to this site for an interesting artilce on "How popular sites use cookie technology".
Additional References
Netscape World Article on Cookies
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