BIS 3328

Social, Professional and Ethical Issues In Information Systems

Milestone 1
Seminar Tutor Name: Dr Penny Duquenoy Student Name: Ijeh Kenechukwu Student Number: M0042861 Campus: London (Hendon)

School of Engineering and information Sciences Dr Penny Duquenoy

PRIVACY IMPACT OF COOKIES ON THE INTERNET

INTRODUCTION One of the largest problems of the information age is Privacy. Like other problems, privacy has been an issue ever since but it is simply the latest repetition of a process of an old battle. How much information about a persons action is the people around them are allowed to know? (Andrew, McCrindle, 2008, chapter 7, pp.211). Although information is priceless, however it can be used in a negative way that is why we monitor confidential information that are read, seen and heard so that they are not viewed by the public without our approval (privacy) because it might cause damage to either or both of the owner or the receiver of the information (Joseph M.Kizza, 2007, chapter 5, pp. 95-123). WHAT IS PRIVACY?
Adams D .Moore describes privacy as a difficult topic to define because privacy can be viewed in descriptive or normative ways, we can view privacy as a mere condition or as a moral claim on others to withhold from some specific activities while some see privacy as a Some of the problems that privacy has been used to denote is a wide range of interest including personal information control, reproductive autonomy, access to places and body, secrecy, and personal development. (Randy Kemp & Adam D.Moore, 2007, pp.58-78).

THE CONCRETE RECOGNITION OF PRIVACY?

Privacy has a lot to do with our daily lives, without privacy a lot would have gone wrong. It is a very difficult question since different views of individuals shows that there are people with different aspect of intrusion. According to (M.David Ermann and et al in Computer Ethics and Society, Oxford University Press 1990, page57) In concrete situations and actual societies, control over the use of property, can only be relative and qualified. As it is true for property or bodily security, the control over privacy must be limited by the rights of others and as in the cases of property and bodily security, so is privacy.

WHAT ARE COOKIES?

When we talk about cookies it is not the yummy ones but the one that has to do with the internet. Cookies are those small pieces of information or text files stored on the computer the very first time a web site was visited. It helps to save the information that was earlier requested by a particular search, keeps track of searches that were made. They may come from the web site that was visited or from provider of the advertising banners or others things that makes up a webpage. Cookies contain some kind of ID Number, a domain that the cookie is valid for, expiry date, some tracking information such as (Login names and pages visited).available at http://surfthenetsafely.com/surfsafely5.htm Available at http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2007/all_about_cookies.asp by Vangie Beal there are basically two types of cookies (i) Session cookie: This is a type of cookie that temporarily stores information it erases when the web browser is closed. It does not collect information from the computer, it sores information inform of a session identification that does not identify the users (ii) Persistent cookie: This is another type of cookie that stores information permanently until it expires or until the cookie is deleted.

THE INVASION OF PRIVACY USING COOKIES.

Cookie is a form of data-gathering technique which online business and website owners can store and retrieve information from about a user or client who visited the website, without their knowledge or consent. Cookie technology has created a significant debate, in a large part, because of the way in which certain information about internet users are been retrieved and stored without their consent or approval. Information about individuals online browsing preferences can be captured while the user is visiting the website and then stored on the hard drive of the users computer system. The information can be recollected and then resubmitted to the website the next time the user accesses the site. Information about users activities can be gathered together and complied by online advertising agencies. E.g. Double click.net, which pays to place advertisement online, include a link from the hosts web site page to the advertising agencys URL. So when a user accesses a web page that contains an advertisement from Double Click.net, a cookie is sent to the users system not only from the requested page but also from the online advertising agency. The advertising agency can then retrieve the information from the cookie from the users system and use the information it acquires about the user in its marketing advertisements. The agency can also acquire information about the user from the cookie retrieved from other websites the user has visited assuming the agency advertises on those sites as well. The information can then be kept altogether and cross referenced in a way that enables a marketing profile of that users online activities to be constructed and used in more direct advertisement.(Duncan Langford, 2000, internet ethics, chapter 5:Privacy and Security).

SOCIAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES OF COOKIES

Privacy is a right to human life, it does not matter what information other people have its no ones business, what they do or probably what they have done. But with the way technology is growing faster than the information and technology age , things are getting out of hands means of breaching privacy is increasing and some people are getting hurt while some are getting rich from this same dilemma. According to the ACM (Association for computing machinery) Be honest and trustworthy meaning the true intension of carrying out a particular action must be known to owners of the information or data, asking for consent before carrying out a particular piece of work, Respecting the privacy of others, there might be a possibility that a user or client does not want some of their information to be known therefore there should be a respect for that, Honour confidential, privacy should be honoured to reduce the invasion of privacy . A devised means of resolving the issue of cookies is that the cookies could be turned off before the user begins to use the system in case the cookie activated on the system is a permanent cookie (persistent).Another way in which cookies can be stopped from retrieving information and data about users is that after the user finishes with the system in which the WebPages were visited, the cookies history could be deleted. (Anderson, R.E., Johnson, D.G., Gotterbarn, D. & Perrolle, J. 1993, "Using
the new ACM code of ethics in decision making",Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 98).

LEGAL AND PROFESSONAL ISSUES OF COOKIES

A lot of users have complained concerning their invasion of privacy with the use of cookies placed on their hard drives. There have been several attempts to pass laws limiting the use of cookies but there are currently few legislative measures that protect the internet users. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved of self-regulation with an undisputed vote in 2000. This plan request that companies to inform users of their activities involving any user profiling that gives users the opportunity to accept or decline the request. Although it is up to the user to choose whatever information they want to provide to the website that they are going to be visiting or whether they want to use the cookies, FTC is taking the action of against companies that do not abode by their own private policy rules. Major Websites currently provide users with information that is collected and its intended use. FTC however, continues to observe companies in order to ensure that they are not violating their private policies.Section 5 of the FTC Act permits the FTC to enforce any statement made in a companys privacy policy (Hormozi, A.M. 2005, pp.51-59). Cookies can be used to gather information or data of an adult individual without any consequence, as long as the site is obeying their privacy policies. The issue becomes more serious if the user is a child; cookies cannot be used to gather any information about any child unless it has the consent of the parent stated in the section 312 of the childrens Online Privacy Protection Act, which implies to children under ages 13 downwards.

SOME SOLUTION TO COOKIES

Double Click has been sued several times for intrusion of privacy relating to company cookies tracking practices. Collection of information first caught the attention of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC), which filed a complaint with the FTC in February 2000. The FTC closed its investigation on the company after determining that Double Click has disclosed its practices in its privacy policies and never used or disclosed users information or data for any purpose that was not stated in their privacy policies. Double Click made an agreement with the FTC under the provisions of the NAI to update its privacy policies, inform users of their Opt-out options, and explain to users how the gathering of information are done by the company. However, Double Click has changed their privacy policy since the lawsuit, and now explain to users how they can choose to Optout. When a user decide to Opt out of the Double Clicks cookie collection practices, the users original cookie will be replaced with this cookie: id=OPT_OUT. The opt-out cookie replaces the users ID number that previously identified the user, by placing this cookie on the users hard drive, Double Click will know that the user has opted out and will not assign other cookies in the future. The NAI web site also gives users the option to opt out of advertisement; the website informs the user on how to opt out of all cookies places by any of the NAIs advertising networks. Users also have other option to protect their privacy and prevent cookies from gathering personal information. With the rate at which public complain about privacy on the issue of cookies, software suppliers have taken the opportunity. Available software such as Junk busters, Cookies Cutter, and Cookies Monster gives internet users an opportunity to control the cookies that are placed on their hard drives. (Hormozi A.M., 2005, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 51-59).

CONCLUSION.
Privacy is a way of life so it should be respected and honoured, but it is still being intruded even though we want to keep our personal information from being accessed by other people and be left alone with choices individuals want to make by themselves. Here is a balanced overview of how privacy should be respected and honoured through the use of the internet (cookie),the laws governing the intrusion of privacy and the ethics on how to put it right, how to solve the problem of unintended intrusion throught cookie and how to fight the intended ones.

REFERENCES Andrew A. and McCrindle, Rachel J. (2008) Pandora's Box : social and professional issues of the information age, John Wiley. Chapter 7: Privacy and Surveillance
Anderson, R.E., Johnson, D.G., Gotterbarn, D. & Perrolle, J. 1993, "Using the new ACM code of ethics in decision making",Association for Computing Machinery. Communications of the ACM, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 98. Duncan Langford, 2000, Internet ethics, chapter 5:Privacy and Security
Hormozi, A.M. 2005, "Cookies and Privacy", Information Systems Security, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 51-59.

Kizza, Joseph Migga(2007), Ethical and social issues in information age, 3rd Edition, Chapter 5 Anonymity, Security, privacy and civil liberties. Pp. 95-123 M.David Ermann , Mary B.Williams, Claudio Gutierrez , Computer Ethics and Society,Concrete Recognition of Privacy Oxford University Press 1990, page57 Randy Kemp & Adam D. Moore 2007, "Privacy", Library Hi Tech,vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 58-78. http://www.cyberlawcentre.org/genl0231/privacy.htm#_ftnref1 by Roger Clarke, Introducing PITs and PETs: Technologies Affecting Privacy. http://surfthenetsafely.com/surfsafely5.htm http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2007/all_about_cookies.asp by Vangie
Beal