in airports and other locations. However, hot spots are magnets for identity thieves and hackers, because the connections often aren’t encrypted, giving other users the ability to monitor the wireless signals coming and going from your laptop. Similar threats face home or office users of wireless networks.112
Other threats lurk in your e-mail and on the World Wide Web. Many types of “malicious mobile code” are spread via e-mail or booby-trapped Web pages. Vulnerabilities in Windows, for instance, allow viruses and other “malware” to spread to computers over the Internet.113
Two other rapidly growing threats are “botnet” and “phishing” attacks. Hackers can secretly make your PC part of a botnet through an infected Web page or e-mail attachment. The botnet silently takes control of your PC. Once your PC is compromised in this manner, organized crime syndicates use it for illicit purposes, while insulating those responsible from being detected.114 In a phishing attack, you receive an e-mail purported to come from a financial institution or other trusted source. The message tries to trick you into logging onto a phony Web site impersonating a legitimate Web site and disclosing personal data such as your name, address, and SSN. The Web site operators then use this information to steal your identity.115
But the biggest threat to Internet privacy and security is the explosion in technology facilitating interaction. Chat rooms, Web cams, blogs, “social networking” Web sites, and the like expose information permanently archived at Web sites such as http://www.archive.org for future retrieval. Disclosure of this information has already led to loss of employment opportunities, lawsuits, and even criminal investigations.116
Police and government agencies have many tools available to monitor your Internet activities without a warrant. For instance, they can monitor any information you post without restrictions (e.g., failing to designate a social networking profile “private”). As you’ll learn in Chapter 2, the contract you have with your ISP may give it the right to record your Web browsing activity and disclose to any third party it chooses, including the government.
In 2007, rules came into effect stipulating that U.S. Internet Service Providers make their networks “wiretap friendly.” Essentially, this requires that networks be designed so that law enforcement authorities can monitor your online activity without intervention by the network. The requirements apply to universities, public libraries, Internet cafés, and other institutions that operate networks connected to the Internet.117
To police the Internet, investigative agencies post fake links to snare individuals interested in child pornography or other illegal activities. Courts have upheld criminal convictions and imprisonment of individuals guilty of nothing more than clicking on a link. 118
Who’s Watching You from Above?
Big Brother is watching you from above, too.
Unmanned robotic devices (airborne and landbased) can monitor your home or office day or night from a distance. They can also eavesdrop on your wireless communications. For example, there’s NASA’s High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft. Equipped with optical and infrared camera systems, HALE can stay airborne for days at a time.
The MQ-9 Reaper, from General Atomics, is a much deadlier robotic vehicle. It can climb to 50,000 feet and can carry up to four armor-piercing missiles and two laser-guided bombs.119
If a controller presses the right button, the Reaper can obliterate you. This capability has been widely used against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Fortunately, it hasn’t yet been used in the United States, although unarmed versions of the Predator, the Reaper’s predecessor, now patrol the U.S. border.120
But if the Congressional Research Service (CRS) gets it way, armed unmanned vehicles may soon be flying over America’s cities. A CRS report suggests replacing manned fighters flying combat air patrols over U.S. cities with robotic vehicles armed with air-to-air missiles. 121
Technology now exists that permit spy satellites to see through clouds, buildings, and underground bunkers, purportedly as an anti-terrorist measure.98 Current policy – but not law – prohibits the government from disseminating satellite data to local and state police authorities. That policy is naturally subject to change, courtesy of the “War on Terror.”123
Conclusion
What are the most significant threats to privacy and wealth in the 21st century?
As annoying as the proliferation of surveillance technologies are in private hands, a larger danger exists when governments use these technologies. There is a long history of private-public surveillance partnerships, as you’ll learn in Chapter 2. These partnerships, many of them occurring out of the public eye, have already resulted in significant losses of privacy and autonomy.
The biggest danger of all occurs when a population is conditioned to demand greater surveillance as the price for “security.” This is precisely the threat today, as the United States and other countries systematically dismantle longstanding protections for privacy and civil liberties to fight a poorly defined war on terrorism.
As you learn more about the global network of technology and law, keep in mind that you’re not helpless to protect yourself. You can still make purchases with currency, deactivate your Facebook account, avoid disclosing your Social Security number, and employ additional defensive strategies you’ll learn about in Chapters 3-5. And if you’re tired of dealing with increasingly pervasive surveillance in your own country, you can move to another country where the government lacks the desire – or at least the financial capacity – to impose surveillance on the scale they do at home.
As we move ahead, I’ll show you simple techniques to stop identity thieves in their tracks, make your wealth legally disappear from the surveillance “radar screen,” and understand how to protect wealth you simply can’t afford to lose. But first, we’ll take a closer look at the impact that global surveillance networks have on your privacy and wealth.
Notes
