Page 413 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

Case 12.2: EC Application: School Administrators Used Webcams to Spy on Students at Home 401

The Price of Protecting an Individual’s Privacy How Information About Individuals Is
Collected and Used Online
In the past, gathering information about individuals, that was
residing in government agencies’ databases, was difficult and An individual’s private data can be gathered in a number of
expensive to do, which helped protect privacy. The Internet, in ways over the Internet. Representative examples of the ways
combination with powerful computers, and targeting algo- that the Internet can be used to find information about an
rithms with access to large-scale databases, have in all practical individual are provided next; the first three are the most com-
terms, eliminated the barriers of protecting citizens’ privacy. mon ways of gathering information on the Internet.
In the UK in 2010, Heathrow airport security officials were
caught circulating printouts of a Hollywood star’s full naked
body scans downloaded from the full-body security scanners. • By a user completing a registration form including
However, authorities feel that the scanning process is neces- personal data
sary for airport security. Today’s technology even enables • By tracking users’ movement on the Web (e.g., by
monitoring people’s activities from a distance, which may be using cookies)
considered a violation of their privacy, as shown in Case 12.2. • By using spyware, keystroke logging, and similar
methods
• By website registration
CASE 12.2: EC APPLICATION • By reading an individual’s blog(s) or social network
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS USED postings
WEBCAMS TO SPY ON STUDENTS AT HOME • By looking up an individual’s name and identity in
an Internet directory or social network profile
Unbeknownst to the students in a Pennsylvania high school, • By reading an individual’s e-mail, IM, or text mes-
administrators were caught spying on the activities of the sages (hacking)
underage students. The administrators did this by remotely • By monitoring employees in real time
activating webcams built into each laptop that was issued to • By wiretapping conversations over communication
the students by the Lower Merion School District, without the lines
permission or knowledge of the students or their parents. • By using wearables such as smart glasses (Chapter 6),
The continued surveillance of the students, even while they including invisible ones
were at home, by school officials at Harriton High School
revealed that one student was conducting what the school
defined as “improper behavior.” Based on the video taken at Cookies
his home, the student was confronted at the school by the assis-
tant principal, and shown “photographic evidence.” The school
A popular way for a website to gather information about an
told the parents that they can do such monitoring. As a result, individual is by using cookies. Cookies enable websites to
one student filed a class action lawsuit representing all the stu-
keep track of users’ online movements without asking the
dents who received laptops, for invasion of privacy and illegal users for permission.
interception of private information. The case was settled in
Originally, cookies were designed to help with personal-
October 2010 and the school district paid $610,000. In 2011, ization and market research; however, cookies can also be
the same school district was sued by a former student over the
used to disseminate unsolicited commercial information.
secret monitoring of laptops in 2009. Cookies allow vendors to collect detailed information about a
Sources: Based on courthousenews.com/2010/02/18/
user’s online behavior. The personal data collected by cookies
Eyes.pdf (accessed April 2016).
often are more accurate than information provided by users,
because users have a tendency to falsify information while
Questions filling out registration forms. Although the ethical use of
1. What legitimate excuse could be made to justify this
cookies is still being debated, concerns about cookies reached
behavior? Why should the school’s actions be stopped? a peak in 1997 at the U.S. FTC hearings on online privacy.
2. What federal laws were broken? What rights in the U.S.
Cookies can be successfully deleted by informed users with
Constitution were violated? programs such as Cookie Monster and CCleaner; to delete
3. What precedent did this decision set? Can you see a way
and manage flash cookies, see flashcookiecleaner.com. By
that schools will be allowed to continue this behavior for setting the privacy levels on Web browsers very high, cookies
a narrowly construed purpose?
from all websites are blocked, and existing cookies cannot be
4. Find other similar cases.
read.