The Dogdays Are Over: The Fight for Internet Privacy

Big brother is no longer just watching you, he's also liking your status and retweeting your instagram. Gone are the days of internet privacy! Although people are voluntarily sharing personal information on the web we must be vigilant. Bills like SOPA/PIPA are just the beginning of upcoming legislation aimed to police/protect the internet. Why should we be concerned? Because everything from our Amazon purchases to Facebook messages will be under the watchful eye of the law.

But Taylor! Why are you so concerned? The only people who should worry are the cyber criminals and child pornographers! Wrong. My simple concern is this: we now have the largest accumulated wealth of knowledge known to man. From the millions of Wikipedia articles to the billions of Youtube videos man has never come close to this free exchange of ideas. Should we favor the interests of corporations and trash what may be the greatest library of media texts? I think not, but the corporate interests and their high-paid lobbyists would strongly disagree.

SOPA aims to police copyright infringement by attacking the website itself for unknowingly allowing a user to host "stolen" content. That's like shutting down a Walmart because one customer showed up high. Clearly there is some fault in this logic, as any rational person would hold the customer responsible and not the business. So the user himself/herself should be punished for any illegal activity online, with respects to the laws of warrant-based investigations. Yet websites like Amazon and Facebook use your private information for target advertisements and cache any information you've ever shared. This leads me to wonder: if private interests can get access to your information then what's stopping the government? Could private deals between these companies and the government undermine the requirements for a warrant?In the near future would web users be punished for visiting weed legalization websites? Will underaged kids get sent to juvenile court for viewing porn?

It all boils down to this: the advent of the internet took the public sphere out of the hands of media corporations and into the hands of individual citizens. This shifted the very meaning of democracy in America, freedom of press is now attainable on some level. But this is bigger than just freedom of press/speech, never before has it been easier to peacefully assemble/ protest. The news conglomerates and the US government have become close friends over the years and will do anything within their power to have the pendulum swing back in favor of large media conglomerates. SOPA is the beginning of this shift and with the FBI planning to monitor social networks it's only a matter of time before someone gets arrested for sharing a link on twitter. Internet privacy is dying, one day soon we'll all have universal web usernames.

If it doesn't scare you now, imagine if everything you do online is visible on your facebook wall. Like, everything.

Internet Freedom: can privacy be ensured?

On the internet nobody knows you’re a dog. Or at least, that’s how it used to be. With the rise of social networks like Facebook and Google+ the age of internet anonymity is quickly becoming extinct. People are voluntarily sharing personal information through these websites more and more each day. Although it seems relatively harmless, sharing one’s likes and dislikes in exchange for user-targeted ads, it’s just the start of a new era in online communication.

What if the government issued a centralized ID login system for the internet much like the required driver’s license to drive a car? This would allow them to keep tabs on all of your internet activity, ensuring that dogs wont be able to pass as humans. We run the risk of sacrificing our personal freedom & right to privacy in favor of corporate advertisements. Cookies, Flash cookies, and zombie cookies collect user information and sell it to others; similarly, search engine logs help to improve searches and also target their (eg. Google) advertising results. Some companies/sites allow users to opt out of being tracked; however, if you don't know who they are, that's not going to happen. Further, many sites don't function properly unless the user accepts cookies, some opt-outs don't work as promised, and others are only temporary.

What if we crafted a constitution of internet rights, similar to our actual constitution, ensuring our rights to privacy online? In the book I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did author Lori Andrews proposes such a constitution. This “Social Network Constitution,” comprised of just ten articles, ensures the user’s “right to connect” meaning that “no government shall abridge the right to connect, nor shall a government monitor exchanges over the Internet or code them as to sources or content.” It also ensures that “each individual shall have control over his or her image from a social network, including over the image created by data aggregation.” Although it seems a bit extreme as of now with bills like SOPA surfacing our right to the internet is threaten and must be ensured.

SOPA Losses Momentum

The Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) is losing momentum in the House and Senate according to the "Washington Post's Wonkblog."  The number of lawmakers who oppose the bill has increased as a shift in the bodies of government has occurred since the introduction of the bill.  According to the article the acts "were all but inevitable" 6 months ago but the opposition is increasing within the House and Senate.  The opposition to SOPA began on media outlets such as Twitter and Reddit.  They organized large scale and effective protests which drew the attention of the government.   

The White House also is involved in the loss of momentum by SOPA.  A statement was released which said  “will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber security risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet."  With the hold up in the legislative branch and open opposition from the executive branch SOPA is slowing in the law making bodies of the U.S.

It is not to say SOPA is dead but it is being reevaluated and the potential for changes is now an option.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/sopa-lawmakers-backing-away-from-online-piracy-bills/2012/01/16/gIQAg7BT3P_blog.html#excerpt