Arnold Roosendaal

We Are All Connected to Facebook … by Facebook!

Numerous websites have implemented the Facebook “Like” button to let Facebook members share their interests, thus promoting websites or news items. It is, thus, an important business tool for content providers. However, the tool is also used to place cookies on the user’s computer, regardless of whether a user actually uses the button when visiting a website. This allows Facebook to track and trace users and to process their data. It appears that non-Facebook members can also be traced via the Like button. This means that Facebook’s data collection practices reach far beyond their own platform and membership. Owing to the proliferation of Like buttons, Facebook has a potential connection with all web users. Web activity can be linked to individual accounts, or a separate data set can be created for individuals who are not (yet) Facebook members. The hidden collection of data on browsing behavior and the creation of individual data sets has ramifications for the privacy of individuals. Privacy issues arising from thirdparty cookie use and connectivity of web activity and devices will be discussed, using the technical process behind the Facebook Like button as an example.

Identity and Privacy Issues Throughout Life

Much research and development has been done during the past couple of years to assist users in managing their partial identities in the digital world by several types of identity management [BMH05]. A comprehensive privacy-enhancing identity management system would include the following components [CK01]: an Identity Manager (IdM) on the user’s side; IdM support in applications (e.g., at content providers, web shops, etc.); various third-party services (e.g., certification authorities, identity providers).

Digital Personae and Profiles as Representations of Individuals

This paper explores the concepts of digital personae and profiles and the way they represent individuals. Even though their manifestation as data sets seems similar, they originate in different ways. The differences between the two forms of digital representations have major implications for their connection and application to known individuals. Digital personae are connected to known individuals in the real world, whereas profiles are not. However, different types of identification can establish the connection between a profile and an offline individual. A profile can then transform into a digital persona. The differences between digital personae and profiles have implications for the applicability of data protection regulations and influence the amount of control individuals have over their representations and decisions based on these. This paper shows the relation between digital personae and profiles and indicates where privacy and autonomy of individuals can be at stake.

Surveillance as a Service? On the Use of Surveillance Data for Administrative Purposes

For law enforcement purposes, authorities may either use a method of indiscriminate control or an investigative approach aimed at (finding) a particular suspect of law-breaking behavior. By applying data matching technologies, indiscriminately collected surveillance data are combined with data from other sources to select individual citizens. Inspired by insights from behavioral research, these citizens may be proactively approached in order to steer them towards desired behavior. The authorities present their communications as a service. However, selecting and addressing individual citizens tends towards investigative practices without the demonstration of any law-breaking behavior, thus straining legal certainties related to the distinction between control and investigation. Practical examples are provided through three case studies, and a number of procedural improvements are suggested to reduce the potentially intimidating character of the practices.

Implants and Human Rights, in Particular Bodily Integrity

Human ICT implants can have various implications for human rights. In particular, the right to bodily integrity may be at stake due to the direct connection to the human body. In this chapter, the scope of the right to bodily integrity is discussed. A more detailed discussion on how the right is affected by implants is largely based on biotechnological implants. In this field, the distinction between therapy and enhancement, as well as implications of implants for the concept of the body and its integrity, has been largely debated. Subsequently, the right is approached with a focus on other, non-living implants. Specific emphasis is given on nanotechnological implants and information carriers. It also appears to be relevant whether the implant has an active or a passive functionality. Finally, some concluding remarks are made by pointing at additional challenges for human rights resulting from ICT implants.

Massive Data Collection by Mistake

Recently, three major ICT companies were confronted with public outrage about the way they collected massive amounts of personal data without informing data subjects, let alone obtaining their consent. Google harvested data concerning Wi-Fi routers while cruising around with their StreetView camera cars, Facebook tracked potentially every internet user with the help of tracking cookies and the ‘Like’ button, and Apple collected and stored location data from iPhones. In all three cases the companies stated that it was a mistake, sometimes took the blame, fixed the issue, and continued their work. The central question is whether they were really mistakes and why the companies could continue their businesses without major problems. Analysis of the three cases leads to hypotheses on whether they were mistakes or a strategy, and signals a trend towards increasing privacy breaches by powerful companies.

Commercial websites: Consumer protection and power shifts

Internet forms a popular forum for information exchange between consumers, while online marketing has opened a range of new facilities for companies to promote and sell their products. This article aims to find out if consumer power has increased as a result of comparison websites and access to more information, or whether it has decreased because of unreliable companies and websites that misuse identity concealing features of the Internet. Main question is whether the autonomy of consumers, and therewith the position of power against producers, is restricted by advertisement techniques from producers who are using the Internet, and if there are causes for concern. Attention will be paid to current legislation on consumer protection and on unfair commercial practices, and implications of online shopping are discussed. Methods such as ‘markufacturing’ and comparison websites are discussed explicitly. Some focus points are provided as a first onset to further regulation in order to retain fair power positions between producers and consumers.

Elimination of anonymity in regard to liability for unlawful acts on the internet

The legal challenge of digital anonymity was the subject of the Dutch case Lycos v. Pessers. Pessers was a victim of defamation and decided to file a lawsuit against an anonymous opponent. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands had to decide whether anonymity should be eliminated or whether a possible right to anonymity should prevail. This paper describes the Dutch standpoint. It compares not only the European system, but also those of the USA and Canada and concludes with some proposals for legislation for better protection of anonymity as well as enabling victims to file a lawsuit.

The Internet and Digitisation: Relations Between Architecture, Innovation, Access, and Culture

Three books with different disciplinary backgrounds deal with the influence of digitisation and the Internet. They provide a window for keenly understanding how and why Internet based applications succeed or fail, and why individuals use them in specific ways. because of the different disciplinary approaches and the diverging viewpoints on the functions and goals of digitisation, these books provide rich insights regarding how Information Technology is perceived and valued in society. Information technologies can bolster or weaken boundaries between social groups, create new obstacles or obliterate existing ones, as well as establish new relationships and (inter)dependencies. The exact impact and influence of an IT product depends to a large extend on the choices made in the design and implementation processes of the specific product. while the approaches employed in these books range from sociology and economy to political science, the socio-cultural potential of Information Technology is brought to the fore as a decisive factor in all cases. In The Internet and Social Inequalities, witte and Mannon focus on the social inequalities related to the Internet by assessing the manner in which the Internet influences cultural and economic boundaries in society. They evaluate data from the Pew Internet & american life Project through three different sociological approaches—the conflict perspective, the cultural perspective, and the functionalist perspective. an important finding here was that guaranteeing Internet availability or access by itself has no inherent value, since access cannot remove inequality on its own. They suggest that the particular ways in which the Internet is put to use, once it is made available, are more important. here, the authors find that the manner in which the Internet is put to use appears to depend on the socio-economic and socio-cultural class of users. They conclude that ‘in addition to Internet access, we need to start talking about Internet use and Internet (2012) 4(1) law, Innovation and Technology 107–112