PRIVACY IN CYBERSPACE

Discussion Questions

Some of the self-help mechanisms may create their own privacy problems. Ironically, the fact that encryption -- ordinarily regarded as a strong privacy-enhancing device -- might actually in the future interfere with privacy. The Encryption Assignment raises this prospect. Does encryption itself carry the potential of creating new privacy problems?
This Module also raises the question of whether legislatures and courts can resolve the conflicts over centralization of data in cyberspace. Consider, for example, the post-September 11 privacy issues. Are you optimistic about the possibility of constructing checks and balances against the political and commercial forces that seek to centralize data after September 11?
There is, of course, a basic puzzle not resolved by the post-September 11 legislation against terrorism. If I’m really a terrorist, and have something to hide, I’ll (1) use encrypted messages, (2) from an anonymous emailer, (3) originating from a public source used by many people, and (4) incorporating steganography[2]. So, who are the people whose online activities are going to be captured by governmental surveillance? Maybe not terrorists. See Terror’s Confounding Online Trail, New York Times, March 28, 2002.