IT systems today can be used to produce some pretty amazing things which may or may not be desirable. It is how the technology is used that may prove to be surprisingly unexpected and possibly harmful to each of us as individuals or even to large numbers of us as collectives.
So let us take a quick trip through the evolution of PC and IT nasties and the consequences and impacts; both good and bad, that rapidly developing technologies can bring. This discussion will therefore focus on the relationship between technological advancement and the individual's privacy or lack there of.
The Australian Federal Government's Privacy Act 1988
In the early days personal computers were used in isolation and personal computing was based around playing games, word processing, and book keeping.
The OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development put forth a number of ideas that after close examination led the Australian Law Reform Commission to making numerous recommendations; some of which the Australian Federal Government acted upon, when introducing the 1988 Privacy Act.
Federal Government Agencies - In responding to the challenges presented by the rapid development of computers and IT this new law (the Privacy Act 1988) was purported to protect personal information collected by federal government agencies while giving individuals a degree of control over its collection and use.
Information Privacy Principles (IPP) - One of the key core components of the Privacy Act 1988 are the Information Privacy Principles which give the individual the right to know what information federal government agencies collect and use along with access rights to their own personal information.
Government
The Privacy Act 1988 and those protections embodied within it were squarely aimed at regulating government use of personal information and ensuring that government computers were secure. They did not apply to the private sector except when the private sector had dealings with government bodies or agencies.
The Internet
With the advent of Internet Service Providers (ISP) individual users were able to connect to the World Wide Web (Internet) and “surfing the net” became the in vogue thing to do. For the first time individuals were able to send their personal private information all around the world. One of the provisos of connecting to the Internet was that ISPs required you to supply them with some personal information which most did honestly.
Unique Identifiers
All communications devices; including Network Interface Cards (NIC), contain a globally unique Media Access Control (MAC) Address which allows for machines to communicate since they can precisely and uniquely define sender and receiver.
Cookies
Cookies are used to collect all sorts of information including our browsing habits and the sites that we visit are placed by 3RD parties onto the individual user's hard drive.
When the user next opens an Internet session these cookies then upload the information that they have collected to the web site or those responsible for placing them on our hard drive. It is important to note that; although these cookies can be of great assistance to the user, they are indeed a double-edged blade and can turn around and bite you.
Malicious Intentions
Intrusions of all sorts have become a worrying concern - malicious code, unsolicited e-mails, and that bandwidth/time hungry monster known as spam became intolerable. In fact; concerns regarding spam became so loud and numerous, that the Australian Government enacted as law the SPAM Act of 2003 giving the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) the powers to advise people concerning ways of stopping spam such as anti-spam software.
Prevention
Prevention has always proven to be better and more efficient than a cure. Treat the cause and not just the symptom.
No Borders
With the Internet; not knowing geographical or political boundaries, numerous other malicious practices have become a scourge on the Internet including: phishing, spyware, scams, all forms of malicious code (viruses, worms and Trojan horses etc.), identity theft and identity fraud, insecure e-commerce transactions and cyber-fraud to name but a few.
Protecting Public Infrastructure Transmissions
One of the biggest concerns to citizens; both as private individuals and as collectives of private individuals, is how their personal information that has been collected through computerized technologies such as credit cards transactions, smartcards, phone tracking, customer loyalty programs, GPS - Global Positioning Satellite, RFID - Radio Frequency Identification Devices and digital video surveillance systems is protected.
To illustrate this point here in summary are some early research findings: a survey conducted Roy Morgan Research, in March 2004, to investigate community attitudes towards privacy found that; when using the internet, 62% of respondents are more concerned than usual about the security of their personal details and over 66% are more concerned now, than they were two years ago (relative to the time of the conducting of the survey).
