The internet has been laden with numerous privacy problems for many years. Despite the efforts to enforce privacy laws, the nature of internet technology quickly outdates these legislations. After a year or two of its implementation, a privacy law is made “useless” by the rapidly changing technology. There has to be a plan that will always be in pace with the real-time circumstances. Privacy advocates now say that self regulation is the best solution to privacy problems.

Self regulation is the self-imposition of privacy related measures so as to avoid privacy invasion. Even without a law, it is the limiting of the use of gathered personal information by companies or groups that collect such information. It is a voluntary action that follows a clear set of guidelines about how a certain company can protect privacy. Such actions could be done by website advertisers, ISPs, data brokers, social networking sites, apps providers, etc.

The idea of self regulation began in the U.S. in 1997. Since then, this idea has been promoted by way of distributing information and encouraging websites to make it their commitment. However, history shows that not one self-regulatory effort has had prolonged success. There were attempts that were initiated, but failed in one or more significant ways. Others never got the chance to show what they had all about before they disappeared. Although it is believed that self regulation can really help solve privacy problems, reforms in its implementation are needed. There is a strong opinion that consumers themselves have the greatest responsibility in protecting their own privacy.

Many areas of human society have been benefited by DNA technology. In crime investigation, the use of DNA has helped the police for a number of years. From the unheard of, to notorious cases, the use of DNA to identify criminals has made officers’ work less difficult. There is a current privacy concern involving the collection of DNA profiles. The police aired their privacy concerns about the move by officials to keep a database of the officers’ own DNA.

To rule out speculation that a police officer committed a complicated crime, police officials have ordered the DNA testing of law enforcement personnel. This unpopular order was issued after the deaths of eight women in Louisiana in 2009. These were cases of a serial killer that showed a high degree of “workmanship” in committing the murders. Rumors spread that a police officer was involved in the killings. Consequently, all officers in Louisiana agreed to undergo testing. The final outcome showed that the killer was not among them.

Some officers feel that this DNA collection is not something they should give much attention to. They say that having a DNA file of police officers is important in conducting crime scene investigations because it would make it easier for them to recognize unknown genetic materials found at crime scenes.

Users want their web browser to provide faster speed and not let them wait very long for pages to load. There is a lot of information that must be accessed quickly, and that is why innovations and improvements in web browsing technology are always being done. Almost every day, new products are placed on the market, promising better online experiences and improved features. Amazon will release its newest tablet, Kindle Fire, on November 15, 2011. They anticipate that this will be the closest rival of the iPad.

Equipped with Silk as its browser, the product is a full-color, 8GB, 7-inch multi-touch tablet. Among its new features are faster surfing speeds and increased battery life, which are probably its major advantages. Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud or EC2 will be used to route all web connections from the Kindle Fire to the web page. This process is relatively new compared with what is now available on the market. From the user’s end, “everything” between him and the internet passes through Amazon’s EC2.

Privacy concerns arose when people came to know that their privacy will again be exposed to risks. In one of his articles, a blogger wrote that all of the user’s web surfing habits will pass through Amazon’s EC2. He added that there is no doubt Amazon will have the opportunity to follow all of the user’s online activities. Amazon, in its Terms and Conditions for using Silk, declared that URLs and certain identifiers will stay in its server for 30 days.

Collecting personal information from users on the internet is not a new issue. It has been around for a long time, and it started out as something that was commonly done. For example, it was normal to provide your name and email address when you registered on a certain website. Social networking sites would even give users the option to provide even more sensitive personal information. Users willingly shared data with different web companies, not thinking about any privacy implications.

Then, targeted advertising was popularized by companies that use this collected personal information. They have accumulated so much of it that they could build profiles of users, especially when it comes to their product preferences. Immediately, privacy advocates cautioned users to be more prudent when sharing their personal data. Despite intensive consumer education, privacy issues got worse, and problems cropped up.

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Heated comments on a recent online newspaper editorial page regarding anonymity have drawn attention. The article asserted that in these times, the online anonymity of people should be limited. The writer argued that the internet is already polluted with too many anonymous comments. There are now suggestions that newspapers should entirely ban these types of comments. This is because these have only contributed to the mass of online garbage that is mostly full of false accusations and name-calling attacks.

Reacting to the foregoing statement, one critic reacted by saying that this kind of argument is not only wrong, but also dangerous. He admitted that in many ways, anonymity protects different groups of the population. He added that anonymity is also prone to abuses by some, particularly those who are spreading “vitriolic bile” without limits. Granting that this is true, it is not enough reason to entirely ban online anonymity. Recent surveys reveal that many online newspapers have established policies regarding this issue, while others have entirely banned this freedom.

Those who propose its banning rationalize that everyone should maintain online civility. While all newspapers should try to work on this issue, there is more to being identified online than just by one’s name. Those who work against anonymity said that identification will minimize online problems. However, this will discourage a lot of people from speaking their minds for the fear of retribution. They also pointed out that history has a lot to tell of anonymous men and women whose writings made great contributions to society.

With the ever present disturbing problems regarding privacy, lawmakers are looking into adding more ways to better protect children. As of now, the law specifies protection for children when they surf the internet. It requires businesses to follow special rules when it comes to the online collection and use of children’s personal information. However, there is a conflicting stand by lawmakers on this issue. Even members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce are not one in deciding whether there is a need to craft special protection for kids 13 to 17 years old.

The provisions in the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) contain special requirements for websites that permit the access of children under age 13. These websites must get a parent’s permission before they can collect, use or disclose a child’s personal information. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposes to revise the definition of personal information. The proposal states that this definition should include geographical location data and other identifiers, such as cookies.

There is also a divided opinion as to the extension of coverage of COPPA, specifically the one covering teenagers. Privacy advocates are saying that Congress should include special protection for teens in order to broaden its privacy legislation. There are representatives from at least two states who proposed a more radical legislation. They would go as far as barring websites from tracking children while they are online.

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Alam ng karamihan na kapag ang IP address ng isang user ay lantad, mag-iimbita ito ng mga data thieves at hackers. Nagiging madaling nakawin ang kanilang personal na impormasyon. Ang sinumang internet user ay nasusundan saan mang website siya magpunta. Namomonitor kung anong uri ng site ang kanyang binibisita, gaano katagal siyang nananatili doon, kung sa anong mga produkto siya intersado o kanyang binibili, atbp. Subalit kung hindi lantad o nakatago ang kanyang IP address, ang mga ganitong bagay ay hindi mangayari. Sa madaling salita, nagiging ligtas siya laban sa mga magnanakaw ng datos at mga hackers.

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Private communication between teachers and students is one of the issues that have recently been brought to Court. The State of Missouri has a new law that prohibits teachers from having private communication with students over the internet. Feeling offended, a teachers’ association filed a court case naming the State, the Governor and the Attorney-General as defendants.

A Missouri state Senator defended the new law, saying that there is no violation of freedom of speech and other rights. These grounds were contained in the teachers’ complaint filed by the Missouri State Teachers’ Association. Further, the representative said that the law doesn’t stop any means of communication. It only prohibits secret communication between educators and students who are usually minors. Teachers and students may communicate over the internet only if parents, administrators or the public can view the internet site.

Schools are, with the adoption of the law, required to fine tune their policies to conform to the law. Teachers decided to express their negative reaction through their association, and said that such prohibition is unconstitutional. The teachers tried to explain their opposition by citing the vagueness and broadness of the act. According to them, there are no specific boundaries between which behavior is permitted and which is not. They also said that the law seems to restrain the exercise of the First Amendment rights, including that of free speech and association among others.

While the issue of GPS tracking and anonymity in public places continues, there is also the issue of online surveillance that still persists. Opposition was raised by critics against the use of GPS tracking technology without a proper warrant. It is because people might lose their privacy when the Court allows GPS tracking by the police. When this happens, GPS tracking devices will be placed in public places and no one will be able to escape from being watched.

People in the virtual world, especially on social networks, might also lose their anonymity. The use of this so-called online surveillance allows “movements” of people in the virtual world to be monitored. Last June, Facebook launched its face-recognition technology. This allows the scanning of all photos found in its database and attaching it to the user’s name. It then spreads all over the network, matching the user’s entire picture library to this tag, thereby associating him or her with friends. If the user used his or her real name as required, that person has no way of hiding his or her identity.

The police could identify unknown criminals by using the same technology described in the foregoing paragraph. Once they post the image of an unidentified suspect on Facebook, the automatic tag will instantly identify him or her. However, Facebook received a public outcry because of the privacy concerns of its users. As a result, it decided to give users the choice to opt out of this system instead of “forcing” it on all of them.