Transcript Internet Privacy: Tracking and Filtering, a Policy

Internet Privacy: Tracking and
Filtering, a Policy Question
PP290: Information Technology and Public Policy |
Jason Christopher and Prof. Michael O’Hare, GSPP
Tuesday, 30 August 2011 - Ideas
Administrative
• Any questions from last time?
• Forthcoming addition to the syllabus: final paper
o Pick a organization, company, institution, govt. agency … from a (policy)
field of interest such as, healthcare, renewable energy, finance, etc. Do
an analysis of the IT components of the organization and its integration
with the organization---past, present, future--- specifically discussing the
pros and cons of maintaining the IT infrastructure and IT projects. Include
in your analysis a discussion of costs and IT alternatives.
• Jason’s Office Hours
o Monday 2:00 -4:00
o Friday 2:00 – 4:00
o Or by appointment
Discussion Points
• What is the internet? What is the web? What is the
distinction between the two? Hint: system v. service
• Broadcast, narrowcast, democratized news media
• What is the “killer app” of the web?
• What is an internet cookie? How does it work?
• What are third-party cookies and why are they a
threat to privacy?
• What is internet tracking?
• What is internet filtering?
• *Theme: Unintended Consequences
Internet and Web
• internet: network of interconnected networks.
“Traffic” on the network follows agreed upon rules
to keep the flow going.
o IP (internet protocol) for addressing | *ping www.cnn.com | *public and
private addressing in brief
o DNS (Doman Name System) names to numbers, a phonebook
• web: a global set of documents connected by
hyperlinks using the hypertext transfer protocol
(HTTP)|a “service” that runs on the internet. There
are many other services that use the internet. Ex. Email, DHCP
o PC: open command window; at *command prompt, type: ipconfig, the
ipconfig /all, ipconfig /release, ipconfig /renew
• Protocols use ports | 0 to 65535 | HTTP 80
Browsing the Web
Your web browser of preference…
nytimes.com: 80
Page sample: http://“www.nytimes.com”
What are the economics of pages/sites? How is it
funded?
• Browser: view page source at nytimes.com
• Find “singleAD” on page
• Logging on to a site, your account information…
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o Login nytimes.com
• Try other sites, look for adds in the page source
Advertising Revenue
Ex. www.zenni.com |$15mil company paying
$50K/month to Google for add service
Tracking: Cookie Tech 101
• Allows for increasingly
targeted advertising and
loss of privacy. Are there
any potential gains?
• An “ever-growing database” of you! For how
long?
• …My IP address, but what
if I am on a private network?
• Leakage and taking
control
• Browser: find third-party
cookies and control on
your favorite browser…
Public Policy
• Do people have ownership over their private
information?
• Consumer control: turn off third-party cookies, don’t
use Gmail? Do Not Track – Stanford
• Should government step in?
o Consumers don’t know that information is being collected
o The danger of data being combined… “ever-growing database”
o Competition among advertising platforms may not result in optimal
provision of privacy
Filtering: Not just Adds…
• Filters that show the internet the way
we want to see it, including the news
• Ex. Google, NY Times, Washington Post
• Experiment: Search for “Egypt”
• Facebook: Relevance to you!
• “When the result is that our favorite
pizza parlor shows up first when we
Google pizza, it’s useful. But when the
result is that we only see the
information that is aligned with our
religious or social or political beliefs,
it’s difficult to maintain perspective.”
---Eli Pariser, Board President and former Executive
Director of MoveOn.org
For Next Time
• Lab session: “Hardware: Getting to Know Your
Electronic Cadaver”
Your Moment of Zen
1968
•
http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html