Each day, millions of people search the web to find information. They ask questions as simple as who won the Oscars, or as complex as what makes up our universe. Googling questions like these seems harmless enough, but what about when your personal information becomes a part of the search results? It does not seem so harmless anymore. People around the globe are searching for ways to protect their information from being dispursed throughout the internet. Because of this, website and browser security is quickly becoming the most in-demand service for individuals and corporations alike.
If you have accessed the internet, you have used a web browser. Unfortunately, the most common browsers today, such as Google Chrome and Firefox, do not provide satisfactory web safety to their users (Grossman 68). While one cannot expect a browser to be perfect, a certain level of safety and security is to be expected. A major issue found in these browsers is the ease with which hackers can access and change the code for a webpage. Even the success or failure to load an image can tell a hacker if you are logged into certain websites or not. The question could be asked, why should it matter if some random figure knows if I’m logged in to my mom’s blog or not? The issue is not that it is your mother’s blog, but in the realization that this detection technique could be applied to your bank account, email, or any other accounts you may have. Most or all of these contain sensitive information that can be exploited if in the wrong hands (Grossman 70). Security holes like this one are just a few of many reasons people want an alternative browser to guard their information while browsing the internet. While some organizations, like those be...
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...ering and storing of information has no ethical purpose. If it did, there would be no need for all of the secrecy surrounding the NSA and its practices.
In conclusion, people are becoming more and more aware that they are not safe online. They are searching for a new, more secure way to continue their internet use. The ability to create and secure websites and users’ data is quickly becoming one of the most sought after web design attributes.
Works Cited
Grossman, Jeremiah. "The Web Won't Be Safe Or Secure Until We Break It." Communications of the ACM 56.1 (2013): 68-72. Business Source Complete. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Hypponen, Mikko. “How the NSA betrayed the world's trust — time to act” TED, Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2014
Moglen, Eben. "The Tangled Web We Have Woven." Communications of the ACM 56.2 (2013): 20-22. Business Source Complete. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
McCraw, David, and Stephen Gikow. “The End to a Unspoken Bargain? National Security and Leaks in a Post-Pentagon Papers World.” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 48.2 (2013): 473-509. Academic OneFile. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
"The Triumph of Technique – The Logic of the NSA." LibrarianShipwreck. WordPress.com, 22 June 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.
Keck, Zachary. "Yes, Edward Snowden Is a Traitor." The Diplomat. N.p., 21 Dec. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014
With the introduction of the internet being a relatively new phenomenon, the act of cyber espionage is not something that has been properly acknowledged by society. The American Government has done a stand up job of keeping its methods in the shadows and away from the eyes of its people since its documented domestic surveillance began on October 4th, 2001; Twenty three days after the Twin Towers fell President George Bush signed an order to begin a secret domestic eavesdropping operation, an operation which was so sensitive that even many of the country's senior national security officials with the...
According to John W. Whitehead, “The fact that the government can now, at any time, access entire phone conversations, e-mail exchanges, and other communications from months or years past should frighten every American.” (Whitehead). The NSA
Nedzi (D-Mich.), Luclen N. “Oversight or Overlook: Congress and the US Intelligence Agency.” A Congressman talk to the CIA senior seminar, November 14, 1979, https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol18no2/pdf/v18i2a02p.pdf (accessed January 7, 2014).
“Human beings are not meant to lose their anonymity and privacy,” Sarah Chalke. When using the web, web users’ information tend to be easily accessible to government officials or hackers. In Nicholas Carr’s “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” Jim Harpers’ “Web Users Get As Much As They Give,” and Lori Andrews “Facebook is Using You” the topic of internet tracking stirred up many mixed views; however, some form of compromise can be reached on this issue, laws that enforces companies to inform the public on what personal information is being taken, creating advisements on social media about how web users can be more cautious to what kind of information they give out online, enabling your privacy settings and programs, eliminating weblining,
?Espionage.? 2000-2004. The War to End All Wars. Michael Duffy. Original Material. Primary Documents Online.
STEPHEN BRAUN, A. F. (2014, May 9). Secret to Prism program: Even bigger data seizure. The big story, p. 1.
Taylor, James Stacey. "In Praise of Big Brother: Why We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Government Surveillance." Public Affairs Quarterly July 2005: 227-246.
In our modern society almost every online act is a freedom of a citizen or a professional expression. Some content is stored and kept safe amongst small groups and some is made publicly available. Yet all acts can generate transactional information which can be viewed by many other parties over the web. This m...
Why Edward Snowden Is a Hero? The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web.
Internet privacy and security has become the concern of many individuals throughout recent years. There are a very limited amount of laws that have been enacted to combat computer or cyber related crimes. This has become an issue because as the internet grows increasingly popular so does the criminal and immoral behavior that abounds on it. With these crimes gaining in impact, effectiveness, and frequency, there needs to be more repercussions for these crimes. The United States government needs to increase restrictions on the amount and type of data on individuals from the internet, to prevent the government from invading privacy of citizens and to prevent companies from storing browser histories of individuals, to then sell that information to ad agencies and other companies.
Gonchar, Michael. “What Is More Important: Our Privacy or National Security?” New York Times. New York Times, 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
...e tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using "cookies" and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance” (Perlroth). Due to the internet being an easy way to access information companies have developed techniques to track consumers and target advertising to their certain interest.These technique though used by companies are now being used by the government for tracking. One of the techniques used to track involve cookies which are a small text file placed by a web server. However, their use has attracted criticism from some privacy experts that claim that cookies serve as a passage for online predators to monitor a person's internet activity. Due to this claim if you have had problems with viruses or have had your account hacked you are recommended to not just erase your history but cookies as well.