Information Privacy, Disclosure, Data Mining (CSF3003) - Weeks 4-6

CSF3003 – CLO2: Information Privacy, Information Disclosure, Data Mining Dr. Dimitrios Xanthidis, Dubai men’s college 1 CSF3003 – Cyber Law and Ethics: CLO2 Information Privacy, Information Disclosure, Data Mining: LEARNING OUTCOMES Information Privacy: Defi...

CSF3003 – CLO2: Information Privacy, Information Disclosure, Data Mining Dr. Dimitrios Xanthidis, Dubai men’s college 1 CSF3003 – Cyber Law and Ethics: CLO2 Information Privacy, Information Disclosure, Data Mining: LEARNING OUTCOMES Information Privacy: Definitions and Laws Information Disclosure: Definition and cases Data Mining and analysis 2 Personal Privacy and Information Privacy 3 What is the importance of this discussion? All types of data is gathered, stored, analyzed, and reported about people by businesses and government agencies which profoundly affects people’s lives. E.g., when applying for loans, jobs, scholarship, even when getting involved with loyalty programs, Many people object the data collection policies of governments and businesses on the grounds they strip ( no control of our information ) individuals of the control over their personal information, Current privacy laws and practices seem to fail to provide adequate protection but, rather, causes confusion, distrust, and skepticism, The efficiency provided by the emerging technologies ( they are collecting information ) to gather all this data and analyze it almost instantly only stresses this problem further, The focus of this discussion is to understand the Right to Privacy and Information Privacy, the meaning of Information Disclosure, the concept and application of the Data Mining processes available to analyze all these data. 4 Information Privacy: The definition Information Privacy: Τhe combination of the ability to communicate with others without being monitored by other persons or organizations (Information Communications) and the ability to limit access to one’s personal data by other individuals and organizations in order to exercise a substantial degree of control (Data Privacy). Related to the notion of access, a “zone of inaccessibility”; violations are against human dignity: Physical proximity to a person -> spying on someone Knowledge about a person -> asking for ex Right of Privacy: ”The right to be left alone”, “A state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people”, “The state of being free from public attention”, “A person’s right to keep their personal matters and relationships a secret”, “A man’s home is his castle” -> physical Conclusion: Privacy is not a natural right, but it is a prudential (wise, discreet) right 5 Information Privacy: The problem Bill of Rights (U.S. Constitution): “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized”. Privacy Protection Study Commission (1977): “The real danger is the gradual erosion of individual liberties through the automation, integration, and interconnection of many small, separate record-keeping systems, each of which alone may seem innocuous, even benevolent, and wholly justifiable”. The problem: Most actions and laws address the problem of invasion of personal privacy by the government. Legislation that protects people from data privacy abuses by corporations is almost nonexistent. There is no single overarching national data privacy policy in the U.S. but only a number of independent laws and acts. Judith Jarvis Thomson: “Privacy rights” overlap other rights 6 Information Privacy Pros and Cons Benefits of Privacy: Individual responsibility – Facebook for ex you want to follow and search Freedom to be yourself - Intellectual and spiritual growth Development of loving, trusting, caring, intimate relationships Harms of Privacy: Cover for illegal or immoral activities Burden on the nuclear family – may cause isolation from family or friends Hidden dysfunctional families - everything behind closed doors / disconnected Ignored people on society’s fringes – those on the borders may experience social exclusion, feeling left out or isolated from mainstream society. / feel left behind bc you want to have your own privacy 7 Is there a Natural Right to Privacy? Perhaps modern life is more private than life centuries ago Most people don’t live with extended families Automobile allows us to travel alone Television v. public entertainment – reducing the need to gather in public spaces for entertainment Challenge: we now live among strangers – creates a certain level of anonymity Remedy: establishing reputations – individuals may need to actively build and maintain a positive public image to counteract the potential loss of privacy Ordeal, such as lie detector test or drug test Credential, such as driver’s license, key, ID card, college degree- mechanisms of establishing trust and credibility in various aspects of life Establishing a reputation is done at the cost of reducing privacy The more information you share to build trust, the less private certain aspects of lives become Discloser certain aspects of their lives, the disclosers could involve sharing personal information, achievements Showing certain qualities, skills, or values publicly 8 Children’s personal data Children’s Personal Data: Many people feel the need to protect children from being exposed to inappropriate material and online predators; becoming the target of harassment; becoming involved in gambling or other inappropriate behavior. The problem: From the few laws implemented, most are ruled unconstitutional under the First Amendment and its protection of freedom of speech. The presents a dilemma in creating legislation that effectively safeguards children without infringing upon constitutional rights Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (1998): Assigns certain rights to parents regarding their children’s educational records until they reach age of 18 or if he or she attends a school beyond the high school level. These rights include: The right to access educational records maintained by a school; The right to demand that educational records be disclosed only with student consent; The right to amend educational records; and The right to file complaints against a school for disclosing educational records. The presumption is that a student’s records are private and not available to the 9 public without the consent of the student. Children’s Personal Data: (FERPA) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (1974) Implemented before the birth of the Internet and the widespread use of databases at various agencies, institutions, and organizations that attempt to service young people. The stringent restrictions of FERPA have frustrated attempts by such groups to share data about young people in common sense ways and have caused duplication of efforts and recordkeeping. Various organizations, including, schools and support services,… May seek to collaborate to provide comprehensive student support, but need certain information New regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Education in late 2011 loosened the restrictions on sharing such data. Among other changes, state and local education authorities can now share data with other government agencies, as long as those other agencies are involved in federal or state-supported education programs. Any Web site that caters to children must offer comprehensive privacy policies, notify parents or guardians about its data collection practices, and receive parental consent before collecting any personal information from children under 13 years of age. An attempt to give parents control over the collection, use, and disclosure of their children’s personal information; it does not cover the dissemination of information to children. The law has had a major impact and has required many companies to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make their sites compliant; other companies eliminated preteens as a target audience.10 Financial Data Financial Data: Individuals must reveal much of their financial data to enjoy a wide range of financial products and services, e.g., credit cards, bank accounts, payroll services, loans, brokerage accounts. The problem? Loss or disclosure of this personal financial data carries a high risk of loss of privacy and potential financial loss. Individuals should be concerned about how this personal data is protected by businesses and other organizations and whether or not it is shared with other people or companies. Fair Credit Reporting Act (U.S. Federal Trade Commission, 1970): Designed to ensure the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information gathered by credit-reporting companies and check those systems that gather and sell information to people. Outlines who may access your credit information, how you can find out what is in your file, how to dispute inaccurate data, and how long data is retained. Prohibits the credit-reporting bureau from giving out information about you to your employer or potential employer without your written consent. 11  Financial Data: Right to Financial Privacy Act (1978) Protects the records of financial institution customers from unauthorized scrutiny/examaination by the federal government. Before this act, financial institution customers were not informed if their personal records were being turned over for review by a government authority, nor could customers challenge government access to their records. Under this act, a customer must receive written notice that a federal agency intends to obtain their financial records and an explanation of the purpose for which the records are sought. The customer must also be given written procedures to follow if he or she does not wish the records to be made available. The act only governs disclosures to the federal government; it does not cover disclosures to private businesses or state and local governments. The definition of financial institution expanded to include banks and all other types of institutions and businesses, public or private that are involved anyhow with money. 12 Financial Data: Right to Financial Privacy Act: Government obligations: To gain access to a customer’s financial records, the government must obtain one of the following: an authorization signed by the customer that identifies the records, the reasons the records are requested, and the customer’s rights under the act, an appropriate administrative or judicial subpoena or summons, Legal document issued by an administrative agency or court a qualified search warrant, or a formal written request by a government agency (can be used only if no administrative summons or subpoena authority is available). The financial institution cannot release a customer’s financial records until the government authority seeking the records certifies in writing that it has complied with the applicable provision of the act. 13 Financial Data: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA, 1999) GLBA includes 3 key rules that affect personal privacy: Financial Privacy Rule: financial institutions provide a privacy notice to each consumer that explains what data about the consumer is gathered, with whom that data is shared, how the data is used, and how the data is protected: The notice must also explain the consumer’s right to opt out—to refuse to give the institution the right to collect and share personal data with unaffiliated parties. Anytime a company’s privacy policy is changed, customers must be contacted again and given the right to opt out. The privacy notice must be provided to the consumer at the time the consumer relationship is formed and once each year thereafter. Customers who take no action automatically opt in and give financial institutions the right to share personal data, such as annual earnings, net worth, employers, personal investment information, loan amounts, and Social Security numbers, to other financial institutions. Safeguards Rule: This rule requires each financial institution to document a data security plan describing the company’s preparation and plans for the ongoing protection of clients’ personal data. Pretexting Rule: This rule addresses attempts by people to access personal information without proper authority by such means as impersonating an account holder or phishing. GLBA encourages financial institutions to implement safeguards against pretexting. 14 Financial Data: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (cont.) Problems related to this law: After the law: financial institutions sent mass mailings to contact their customers with privacy-disclosure forms. Many people received a dozen or more similar- looking forms, one from each financial institution with which they did business. Most people did not take the time to read the long forms, which were printed in small type and full of legalese. Rather than making it easy for customers to opt out, the documents required that consumers send one of their own envelopes to a specific address and state in writing that they wanted to opt out—all this rather than sending a simple prepaid postcard that allowed customers to check off their choice. As a result, most customers threw out the forms without grasping their full implications and thus, by default, agreed to opt in to the collection and sharing of their personal data. 15 Data Breaches 16 International cases on Information Privacy: Videos for discussion 17 International cases: Social Media and Privacy Watch the video “Privacy issues with Social Media”. Watch the video “Social Media Data Privacy Awareness” Watch the video “Protecting Children's online privacy and identity - Internet Matters” Watch the video “"I'm sorry", Mark Zuckerberg tells US Congress over Facebook data breach - ITV News” What is your understanding about privacy on the Social Media? Do you think Social Media users, on average, understand the privacy issues involved? Do you think the governments’ should regulate the Social Media? Do you trust the Social Media organizations to keep your personal data secret? 18 Cases for discussion on Information Privacy 19 Case Study 1: Celebrities privacy (?) Scenario 1: Take a look at the picture below. Do you believe that celebrities or public figures have the right to be “left alone”? 20 Case Study 2: Secret Monitoring The Sullivans have a baby girl; they both work; they are concerned about the performance and behavior of the full-time nanny. For this reason they purchased a program that allows monitoring through laptop’s camera placed in the family room. They did not inform nanny she is being monitored”. Utilitarian approach: If everyone monitored nannies, it would not remain a secret for long and: a. Nannies would be on best behavior in front of camera, b. Might reduce child abuse and lead to parents’ peace of mind. However it: a. Would also increase stress and reduce job satisfaction of child care providers, b. Might result in higher turnover rate and less experienced pool of nannies, who would provide lower-quality care. What is your opinion on this approach? Kantianism approach: Imagine the rule, “An employer may secretly monitor the work of an employee who works with vulnerable people”. If universalized, there would be no expectation of privacy by employees, so secret monitoring would be impossible. Proposed rule is self- defeating, so it is wrong for Sullivans to act according to the rule. What is you opinion on this approach? Social Contract Theory approach: It is reasonable for society to give people privacy in their own homes. Nanny has a reasonable expectation that her interactions with baby inside home are private. Sullivan’s decision to secretly monitor the nanny is wrong because it violates her privacy. What is your opinion on this approach? 21 Information Disclosure 22 Records held by public or private organizations Records held by public organizations (Public Records): Information about an incident or action reported to a government agency to inform the public. – public records are official documents and information maintained by the government Examples: birth certificates, marriage licenses, motor vehicle records, criminal records, deeds to property. Records held by private organizations: include all types of records related to the activities and transactions between a business and its customers. Examples: Credit card purchases, purchases made with loyalty cards, voluntary disclosures, and posts to social network sites. Computerized databases and the Internet have made public records much easier to access. They are monitoring your habits 23 Fair Information Practices: OECD Guidelines (1980) Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development Guidelines for the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data (1980): Transborder: such as personal data Collected in one country and transferred to servers to the database located In another country Framework for protection of individual privacy in the context of the transborder flow of their personal data These guidelines served as functions for many privacy laws and regulations globally 24 Fair Information Practices: E.U. Data Protection Directive (1995) Notice: An individual has the right to know if his or her personal data is being collected, and any data must be collected for clearly stated, legitimate purposes. Choice: An individual has the right to elect not to have his or her personal data collected. Use: An individual has the right to know how personal data will be used and the right to restrict its use. Security: Organizations must “implement appropriate technical and organizational measures” to protect personal data, and the individual has the right to know what these measures are. Correction: An individual has the right to challenge the accuracy of the data and to provide corrected data. Enforcement: An individual has the right to seek legal relief through appropriate channels to protect privacy rights. 25 Information Disclosure and Data Gathering Facebook tags Enhanced 911 services Rewards or loyalty programs Body scanners RFID tags Implanted chips Medical records Electronic Surveillance Cookies and flash cookies 26 Facebook tags Tag: Label identifying a person in a photo Facebook allows users to tag people who are on their list of friends About 100 million tags added per day on Facebook Facebook uses facial recognition to suggest names of friends appearing in a photo Does this feature increase the risk of improper tagging? Potential risks related to accuracy, privacy, legal issues, and user experience. What if the tag identifies someone else? 27 Enhanced services Enhanced 911 services: Cell phone providers in the United States required to track locations of active cell phones to within 100 meters Allows emergency response teams to reach people in distress What if this information is sold or shared? Potential risks related to accuracy, privacy, legal issues, and user experience. What if the tag identifies someone else? Rewards or Loyalty programs: Shoppers who belong to the store’s rewards program can save money on many of their purchases. E.g., Carrefour or other supermarkets. Computers use information about buying habits to provide personalized service. E.g., ShopRite computerized shopping carts with pop-up ads Do card users pay less, or do non-users get overcharged? 28 Body Scanners Some department stores have 3-D body scanners Computer can use this information to recommend clothes Scans can also be used to produce custom-made clothing Also used in airports or other security-sensitive places for similar reasons. 29 RFID tags RFID tags (Radio Frequency Identification): Tiny wireless transmitters used to replace bar codes for speed inventory process because: a. contains more information, and b. can be scanned more easily. If the tag cannot be removed or disabled, it becomes a tracking device. 30 Implanted chips Identifying and controlling integrated circuit devices or RFID tags implanted in somebody. Taiwan: Every domesticated dog must have an implanted microchip Size of a grain of rice; implanted into ear Chip contains name, address of owner Allows lost dogs to be returned to owners RFID tags approved for use in humans Can be used to store medical information Can be used as a “debit card” 31 Medical Records Medical Records: The use of electronic medical records and their transferring among different organizations. Individuals fear intrusions into their health data by employers, schools, insurance firms, law enforcement agencies, and even marketing firms looking to promote their products and services. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (1996): Designed to improve the portability and continuity of health insurance coverage; to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in health insurance and healthcare delivery; and to simplify the administration of health insurance: Requires healthcare organizations to fully digitize medical records, thus making it possible to exchange medical data over the Internet. Healthcare providers must obtain written consent from patients before disclosing any information in their medical records each time they are treated at a hospital, and such a form must be kept on file with their primary care physician. Healthcare providers are required to keep track of everyone who receives information from a patient’s medical file. 32 Medical Records (2) Healthcare companies must appoint a privacy officer to develop privacy policies and procedures as well as train employees on how to handle sensitive patient data to address the potential for unauthorized access to data by outside hackers as well as the more likely threat of internal misuse of data. Healthcare organizations, as the originators of individual medical data, are responsible for certifying that their business partners (billing agents, insurers, debt collectors, research firms, government agencies, and charitable organizations) also comply with HIPAA security and privacy rules. Those who misuse data may be fined or face time in jail. The problem: Some medical personnel and privacy advocates fear that: Between the increasing demands for disclosure of patient information and the inevitable complete digitization of medical records, patient confidentiality will be lost. HIPAA provisions are too complicated and that rather than achieving the original objective of reducing medical industry costs. – didn’t effectively reduce healthcare industry costs 33 Electronic Surveillance Closed Circuit TV Cameras (CCTV) : Used in major cities around the world in an effort to deter crime and terrorist activities. Critics believe that such scrutiny is a violation of civil liberties and are concerned about the cost of the equipment and people required to monitor the video feeds. Vehicle Event Data Recorder (EDR): A device that records vehicle and occupant data for a few seconds before, during, and after any vehicle crash that is severe enough to deploy the vehicle’s air bags (automobile “black boxes”). Sensors located around the vehicle capture and record information about vehicle speed and acceleration; seat belt usage; air bag deployment; activation of any automatic collision notification system, and driver inputs such as brake, accelerator, and turn signal usage; cannot capture any data that could identify the driver of the vehicle, nor it can tell whether the driver was operating the vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Stalking apps: Cell phone spy software that makes it possible for the user to perform location tracking, record calls, view every text message or picture sent or received, and record the URLs of any Web site visited on the phone. A built-in microphone can be activated remotely to use as a listening device even when the phone is turned off. There is no law that prohibits a business from making an app whose primary purpose is to help one person track another, and anyone can purchase this software over the Internet. However, it is illegal to install the software on a phone without the permission of the phone owner. It is also illegal to listen to someone’s phone calls without their knowledge and permission. 34 Electronic Surveillance Acts Electronic Communications Privacy Act (1986): Deals with 3 main issues: a. The protection of communications while in transfer from sender to receiver, b. The protection of communications held in electronic storage, and c. The prohibition of devices from recording dialing, routing, addressing, and signaling information without a search warrant. Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (1994): Required the telecommunications industry to build tools into its products that federal investigators could use – after obtaining a court order – to eavesdrop on conversations and intercept electronic communications. The court order can only be obtained if it is shown that communications about the crime will be intercepted and that the equipment being tapped is being used by the suspect in connection with the crime. USA PATRIOT ACT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, 2001): Gave sweeping new powers both to domestic law enforcement and U.S. international intelligence agencies, including increasing the ability of law enforcement agencies to search telephone, email, medical, financial, and other records. 35 Cookies & Flash Cookies Cookies: Text files downloaded to the hard drives of users who visit a Web site to enable it to identify visitors on subsequent visits: Contains information about visits to a Web site Allows Web sites to provide personalized services Put on hard drive without user’s permission You can set Web browser to alert you to new cookies or to block cookies entirely Flash Cookies: Text files downloaded to the hard drives by a Web server running the Adobe Flash Player: Flash cookie can hold 25 times as much information as a browser cookie Flash cookies not controlled by browser’s privacy controls Some Web sites use flash cookies as a way of backing up browser cookies. If you delete browser cookie, it can be “respawned” from the flash cookie Half of 100 most popular Web sites use flash cookies 36 Data Mining 37 Data Mining: The definition and the problem Definition: Searching records in one or more databases, looking for patterns or relationships Can be used to profile individuals -> customer Allows companies to build more personal relationships with customers Who owns the various transactions’ information? Who controls transaction information? Buyer? Seller? Both? Opt-in: Consumers must explicitly give permission before the organization can share info; a barrier for new businesses so organizations prefer opt-out. This is the new E.U. directive applied. Opt-out: The organization can share info until the consumer explicitly forbids it. By default they are sharing if you are against that you can tell them 38 Use of Data Mining for... Google’s Personalized Search: Secondary use, i.e., information is collected for one purpose and used for another. Google keeps track of your search queries and Web pages you visited and uses this information to infer your interests and determine which pages to return. Also used by retailers for direct marketing by profiling individuals and building more personal relationships with customers. Collaborate Filtering: Analyze information about the preferences of a large number of people to predict what one person may prefer Explicit method: people rank preferences Implicit method: keep track of purchases Used by online retailers and movie sites 39 Examples of Data Mining Application Credit Reports: How information about customers can itself become a commodity: Credit bureaus: Keep track of an individual’s assets, debts, and history of paying bills and repaying loans Sell credit reports to banks, credit card companies, and other potential lenders System gives you more choices in where to borrow money Poor credit can hurt employment prospects Microtargeting: Political campaigns determine most likely voters of candidates: Voter registration, voting frequency, home visits to most likely supporters Consumer data, target direct mailings, emails, text messages GIS-related data Social Network Analysis: Analyzing information collected from Social Networks: Cell phone companies in India identify “influencers” Police predict locations of big parties Banks evaluate the riskiness of loans 40 Cases for Discussion on Information Disclosure and Data Mining 41 Cases: Lotus, Facebook, Netflix Marketplace Households: Lotus Development Corporation developed CD with information on 120 million Americans, and planned to sell CD to small businesses that wanted to create mailing lists based on various criteria, such as household income: More than 30,000 consumers complained to Lotus about invasion of privacy and Lotus dropped plans to sell the CD Facebook Beacon: Fandango, eBay, and 42 other online businesses paid Facebook to do “word of mouth” advertising: Facebook users surprised to learn information about their purchases was shared with friends Beacon was based on an opt-out policy and was strongly criticized by various groups forcing Facebook to switch to an opt-in policy Netflix Prize: Netflix offered a $1 million prize to any group that could come up with a significantly better algorithm for predicting user ratings: Released more than 100 million movie ratings from a half million customers by stripping ratings of private information Researchers demonstrated that ratings were not truly anonymous if a little more information from individuals was available U.S. Federal Trade Commission complaint and lawsuit forced Netflix to cancel the sequel to Netflix Prize 42 Police monitor Facebook and Twitter to identify Locations of Big Parties 43