David Kotz.
Technological Implications for Privacy.
Technical Report, June 2004.
Originally written during Summer 1998 Ethics Institute at Dartmouth College.
[Details]
The World-Wide Web is increasingly used for commerce and access to personal information stored in databases. Although the Web is “just another medium” for information exchange, the fact that all the information is stored in computers, and all of the activity happens in computers and computer networks, makes it easier (cheaper) than every to track users’ activities. By recording and analyzing user’s activities in the Web, activities that may seem to be quite private to many users, it is more likely than ever before that a person’s privacy may be threatened. In this paper I examine some of the technology in the Web, and how it affects the privacy of Web users. I also briefly summarize some of the efforts to regulate privacy on the Internet.
