|
Our Own Personal Spy
By Hwaa Irfan
04/05/2001
Ever wonder if the postman reads your postcards? Although e-mail and Internet communications in general are less tangible, there is still cause for concern that our correspondence may not be as secure as we would like. So, surf away but remember that, just as Allah (SWT) witnesses every website you visit, there may be someone monitoring you when you go online.
Many of our concerns (and they are justifiable) are balanced by our moral sense of right and wrong. The Internet can, however, maintain a degree of control over our lives - especially when we realize that we might not be alone while surfing on the information highway.
"And certainly We created man, and We Know what his mind suggests to him, and We are nearer to him than his life-vein. When the two receivers receive, sitting on the right and on the left, he utters not a word but there is by him a watcher at hand..." (Sura'tul Qaf, 50:16-18).
Disregarding privacy laws, the U.S. federal government is tracking those who log onto federal government websites. Senator Fred Thompson, chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, indicated in a congressional report released this month that he is upset by these findings and has planned legislation to establish a commission examining government privacy policies (Associated Press, p. 2).
The report looked at 64 federal websites (including NASA) with user files, which allow them to track the browsing and buying habits of Internet users. Unable to determine exactly how many people visit the sites, Jupiter Media Matrix, which tracks Internet usage, says that government sites are popular. They estimated 3.5 million visitors to the Education Department web pages in March and 2.2 million to NASA sites.
Ari Schwartz, senior policy analyst for the Center for Democracy and Technology, also found the report disturbing. "Generally, when we think about privacy and the government, we want to make sure that the government is transparent and protects privacy over and above the rest of the Internet, and the rest of [the] private and nonprofit sector," he said (Associated Press, p. 2).
Last October, Congress authorized an investigation into the future use of tracking devices by agency inspector generals - despite the Clinton administration having issued a memo restricting the practice last June (Associated Press, p. 2). General Services Administration Inspector General William Barton found that a contractor managed the business operations of an agency site that used the tracking technology. The agreement gave the contractor ownership of all the information about the Internet users who visited the site.
The subject in this kind of scenario, Roy from Tulsa (U.S.) had been using a telephone connection for quite a while and then switched over to a cable connection. "When I did so, I installed a firewall and the first thing I discovered, there was a program running on my system that was sending information to a website that was distributing this information. This program was installed on my system without my knowledge or permission, which I wouldn't have given in the first place. I have since blocked the access that this program has; although it cannot send anything, [it is] still accumulating data (MSNBC, p. 2)."
Interceptions have become more apparent. They work like this:
E-mail messages and other network traffic are broken down into sections before they are sent across the network. Each section may follow a different path before reaching the recipient. Upon destination, the sections are reassembled for the recipient. One e-mail message may take a different path than one previously sent to the same recipient. The messages or sections of a message travel through a variety of systems that may be owned or operated by corporations, non-profit organizations, colleges, governments, government agencies, or telephone networks. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP), a renegade employee of that ISP, or someone working in cooperation with the ISP can basically intercept and read your mail.
The ISP has easy access to the content of your messages as well as hotels, conference centers and Internet cafes. In an Internet cafe, the person sitting immediately next to you could be intercepting and reading everything you write (WildID, p. 2,3)!
Most of us believe that privacy should be respected by all. And it is somewhat hard to believe that an offender of that basic civil right is a government that speaks of democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech.
And governments shouldn't compromise national security by allowing easy access to pertinent files.
Ali ibn Talib says, "I sought ease for myself... and I have not found anything that brings greater ease than avoiding what does not concern me" (Haeri, 1992). Unfortunately, as we know, there are those who spend a lot of time on things that don't concern them and not enough on matters that do.
The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, for the fourth time since 1988, presented a report to the Secretary of State (now, Colin Powell) and the National Security Advisor (now, Condoleeza Rice) the beginning of this past February.
The Committee expressed that, "The Bush administration should reorient U.S. policy to emphasize a commitment to broaden the Internet and information for diverse elements of civil society." The report includes "the pressing for an end to government restrictions on Internet use and to expand public Internet access for non-commercial users at all U.S. posts abroad such as embassies and military bases" (Reuters, p.2).
However, one can imagine that there is a hidden agenda in all of this.
Sources
Associated Press. "Report: Government Tracks Visitors to its Web
Sites." Apr. 2001.
Haeri, Fadlalla. The Sayings & Wisdom of Imam 'Ali. Britain and N. Ireland:
Zahra Publications, 1998.
MSNBC. "Your Privacy Invasion Stories." Dec 2001.
Reuters. "Expand Net Access Group Urges." Feb 2001.
WildID. "Top 10 Places Your e-mail Can Be Intercepted." 2001.
|
