As e-commerce gains traction in our modern world, privacy and anonymity on the Internet are essential for users of the Internet. Contemporary society is full of free Internet services because it believes that the Internet is the solution for the future. We all own cell phones, shop online, and use credit cards. However, the companies and governments that control online surveillance do much more than store information. Every time we use the Internet we expect net neutrality; not suffer interference while carrying out our online activities on the Internet. Net neutrality safeguards our right to communicate freely on the Internet. Therefore, privacy on the Internet is paramount and the access rights of Internet users must be respected by the government and the corporate sector. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay According to Techopedia, Internet privacy is the protection provided for data posted online by individuals through the Internet. Net neutrality, on the other hand, is an Internet principle that prevents Internet service providers from influencing communication over the Internet. Internet service providers are responsible for providing Internet users with smooth and unrestricted communication under the principle of net neutrality. However, last week the FCC voted on net neutrality, a move seen as a plan to eliminate net neutrality. The move has received significant criticism, however, with the majority of those against calling for existing net neutrality laws to be preserved. Internet users have resentfully admitted that online surveillance by governments and companies is part of normal life. Internet users in the United States have less protection than in other countries (Mineo, Np). Congress recently voted to allow the collection and sale of customer browsing data. According to security expert Schneier (2017), the USA Freedom Act had minimal impact in changing the way the government collected data. “NSA data collection has not changed; the laws limiting what the NSA can do have not changed; the technology that allows them to do so has not changed” (Mineo, Np). According to Schneier, Edward Snowden's revelations about the government's surveillance plan informed people of what was happening, but never changed what was happening. The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence unit of the United States charged with the collection, translation, and analysis of data and information for monitoring and counterintelligence purposes. As a security agency, confidentiality of data and information is necessary. Therefore, stringent security measures are essential to protect the privacy of data and information in the custody of the NSA. The Edward Snowden case is a case of an insider threat that was not foreseen when designing security policy for the NSA. Therefore, some of the security measures put in place could not prevent Edward Snowden from accessing the information. However, the agency could have used CCTV to track Edward's activities and assign someone to monitor him. (Insider Threat Detection, p.6). It would change his mind about exposing information to the media and the public. Video analysis tools could be used to identify Edward Snowden's psychophysical state, especially when he accesses ad areashigh security such as the server room and warehouse data. The agency could also monitor employee behavior, including their work schedules, USB usage, phone communications, network logs, email paths and badge swipes. It would have made it difficult for Edward Snowden to access vital information, thus reducing the danger caused by his disclosures (Insider Threat Detection, page 5). Another scenario in which an insider can pose a threat to network security is where an employee with access privileges to vital information in the master database maliciously alters information and changes passwords belonging to other employees thereby denying them the requested services . Most security policies focus on hackers and therefore it will be difficult to detect malicious employees as their actions will be spurred by a particular event. In this case the employee could be provoked, say, by low salary or a conflict with a colleague, which could influence him to sabotage the network and thus pose a serious threat. Edward Snowden was not a traitor. The agency granted him privileges to access top secret files and then did not convince other employees to give him their passwords or carry out malicious activities to obtain the information (Edward Snowden is not a traitor, Np). The mass surveillance program had been in place for a long time, but what Edward Snowden didn't like was the way surveillance with sexual content or naked people was circulated among employees. He believed this behavior was unethical and therefore reported the National Security Agency where he was a senior employee (Snowden Is No Hero Yet, Np). Surveillance is the way Internet service providers make money. Everyone is at risk of surveillance as many companies exchange personal data with marketing agencies who not only use the information to send us targeted advertisements and offers, but also to suggest the prices we are charged for goods suggested by these companies. Companies use the information to manipulate the news articles and advertisements we receive in our emails. Governments, on the other hand, use surveillance to discriminate, freeze free speech, and censor what people can see. Companies and governments share collected data, and in some cases, data is lost due to massive security breaches in their systems. Saving information online and cookies are attributes of the Web that are used by many companies but have come under significant criticism in the recent past. A cookie is a piece of data generated by a Web server that is saved on the hard disk of a user's workstation. This data, called state information, presents a mechanism for the website that stored the cookie to track a user's web browsing patterns and preferences ("PARKER INFORMATION RESOURCES"). A Web server can use state information to predict future needs, and state information can help a website resume a previously started task. For example, you may use your web browser to access a website that markets a particular product; the website may store a cookie on your computer that describes which products you were viewing. When you visit the Site at a later time, the Website may retrieve status information from the cookie and prompt you to review that particular product or view similar products ("PARKER INFORMATION RESOURCES"). Other typical applications that store cookies on users' computers include search engines; the shopping carts usedfrom web retailers and secure e-commerce applications. Information about previous viewing habits stored in a cookie can also be used by other websites to personalize their web page. A recent use of cookies involves storing information that helps a website decide which advertising banner to display on your screen. 'user. With this technique, a website can personalize advertisements based on a user's profile of past web activity. Although website owners defend the use of cookies as useful to web users, a website's storing information on users' computers constitutes an invasion of privacy. The data or information acquired is private and sensitive. Web servers sometimes send this information to other websites that use it to track your online activities. Users concerned about this privacy issue can instruct their browsers to inform them whenever a website stores a cookie and provide the ability to disable cookie storage. Users can also view their cookies and delete their cookie files. According to an article by Cheryl Pellerin (2014) on cyber legislation, the US government needs to address issues related to leakage of classified information to the media and establish cyber laws. These were the crucial questions highlighted by Keith B. Alexander, general of the US Cyber Command and director of the NSA. Citing an example of a previous media leak in his Edward Snowden speech, Alexander insisted that such activities by National Security Agency officials are limiting the establishment of cyber laws (Cheryl, Np). Snowden revealed classified information about the NSA surveillance program to the media and fled the United States. However, Snowden has since been accused of espionage and theft of federal government documents. Alexander also defended the British ruling against David Miranda, a Guardian journalist and Glenn Greenwald's partner. The verdict illustrates how the British government has successfully managed to establish laws against public disclosure of national security intelligence information, despite the “jigsaw” nature of that information. Journalists have a professional duty of care to ensure that what they publish does not endanger the public interest, including the lives of citizens, and the security of the country (Cheryl, Np). Cyber Command has prioritized five critical issues in an effort to prepare for the growing cyber future. These issues include creating a secure architecture that will allow them to patch vulnerabilities in the shortest time possible. Another critical issue is the training of the workforce and the acquisition of high-level skills, such as those of the NSA's elite units. Cyber Command also intends to establish a security policy to streamline command and control. They also seek to develop shared situational awareness in cyberspace and grant the NSA and Cyber Command the power to share sensitive information such as malware signatures and cyber threat intelligence with industry (Cheryl, Np). Furthermore, the nation should establish a way to collaborate with other countries to safeguard cyberspace. The general insisted that the issue of cybersecurity requires a team effort and information sharing between the country's security and intelligence units, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The US government must manage concerns about authority and leaks.
tags