Transcript Privacy – what do they know about you?

Privacy – what do they know about you?
Skills: none
IT concepts: logging, IP address, proxy
server, data mining, packet, packet header,
packet body, URL
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoncommercialShare Alike 3.0 License.
Where does this topic fit?
• Internet concepts
– Applications
– Technology
– Implications
• Internet skills
– Application development
– Content creation
Class background survey -- where did this
information come from?
IP address: a numeric address like 155.135.1.1 that is used
to route messages to a particular computer on the network.
Messages between clients and servers are sent in
data packets.
10011
00110
11101
Client
10101
Server
Data packets have two parts, a header and a body.
The packet header
To: <IP address>
From: <IP address>
Time and date
(and more)
The body
For example a Web page request like:
Linked from <URL>
GET <URL>
Did you do the assignment on time?
Market research – which sites should I advertise on?
Where are you?
Location of 155.135.1.1 from Geobytes.com
Localization is approximate – we are in Carson, not Torrance. It
uses databases which in some cases are inaccurate.
Who are you?
IP address + time and date + ISP log →
Internet account holder
Anonymity
Use a public computer.
Use a proxy server.
Proxy server
Normal
connection
Through a
proxy
Proxy
server
You can hide your IP address with a proxy server, which can
be in any nation or location.
Search engine data mining
• Storage is cheap and getting cheaper fast
• Search engines log every search
• Localization is used to target ads and rank
search results
• Log information is used in applications like spell
checking and speech recognition
Mining logs: spell checking
Google learns common spelling errors as people
correct their mistakes.
Mining logs: Google speech recognition
Google voice recognition (800-goog411) demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN0q8SvlQAk
Google knows which words are likely to be used
together, which words you have used, and your location.
They also have a “yellow pages” database.
Food for thought
• Are you worried by the fact that search
engines track your online activity?
• Which services other than search engines
track your online activity?
• Are there any advantages for you in
having your searches tracked?
• Does mobile access improve localization?
• Are there any applications for proxy
servers beside covering up shady activity?
Sites can offer “opt in” or “opt out” privacy – do
you opt to share your background survey
responses?
(The default is opt in)
Privacy – what do they know about you?
Skills: none
IT concepts: logging, IP address, proxy
server, data mining, packet, packet header,
packet body, URL
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoncommercialShare Alike 3.0 License.