I've been following the scandal surrounding e-mails and text messages with some amusement this week. Amusement, because we think our e-mails are private, and we are astounded when we find out that they are not.
I know that when I started my most recent job, I signed a statement that I understood that any e-mail that went back and forth on the company network was subject to the company reading and reviewing not only my e-mails, but also my web activity. If I were to access my private e-mail on a company network, then they would be able to access whatever I sent. Believe me, ever since I signed that paper, I only use my work computers for work, and will not access my private e-mail account on the machines at work. Considering that every once in a while, you will find out about someone who was fired for sending personal e-mails on company time, surfing inappropriate websites, or for sending e-mails that had nothing to do with company business on a company e-mail, I think I'm on the right track. I know that this policy extends to smart phones accessing the company network, as well as smartphones that the company owns - even when you are at home, off of company time. You are still using the company's machinery.
I keep my smart phone locked, and I require a password to access my accounts. Even then, I only access facebook and e-mail from my smart phone. I have heard that hackers are getting better at getting into smart phones and stealing sensitive account information off of the phone.
When I log onto a public network, say at Panera, I get a message from my computer telling me that "This is a public network. Others can see what you are doing." Read: Hackers can get into your wireless transmissions and read whatever you are writing or sending. I only logged into public networks to turn in reports for school. Anyone who is interested in the borrowing habits of teenagers in public libraries is more than welcome to read my thoughts on the matter. But, send a personal e-mail from Panera? No way.
Spy Ware and Mal Ware are everywhere. When did you last run your virus scan on your computer? I run a check weekly on my computer. Did you know that some spyware will record every single keystroke you make and transmit it back to the home computer? Some unknown entity somewhere is putting those keystrokes together and reading through everything you ever wrote.
But, who would take the time to do this? People who are out to steal your account information. Yes, they are real. They plant spy ware on your computer while you are surfing the web, or opening funny messages from friends, and the transmission back to the home servers begin immediately.
I have a friend who thinks her user name and password were lifted when she logged into her e-mail from a computer at the public library. We all started getting e-mails from her about how she was in Italy and her money, passport, and plane ticket home had been stolen and that she needed help getting back home. The hacker even gave a bank account number of an account that the U.S. Embassy had supposedly set up to help her get back home.
Let's say you are working on your laptop somewhere in public. Did you know that if you don't have a privacy screen on your monitor, anybody in the same room with you can read what you've written?
And let's not forget our "friends" who decide to respond to a message that we sent them, but BCC someone else on the e-mail for whatever reason.
Wait.. what about the data mining that goes on with our permission? Those tags we use at the grocery store to get sales? The grocery store is tracking everything from our buying preferences, to our method of payment. They know everything about us. Target is infamous for data mining information about their customers. I'm not sure how they do it, but I believe they track information using our credit card numbers. Every single time we swipe a credit card, information is stored about us somewhere. Our names, our buying habits, the stores we regularly shop, how often we get gas, our favorite gas stations. It's rather frightening when you realize how much information is out there about you already.
The list goes on and on. Electronic communications are never as secure as we think. Privacy in an online world calls for constant vigilance on our part. I am more worried about some random person in the neighborhood library attempting to hack into my laptop and steal information than I am about the federal government supposedly reading my text messages. I honestly can't see someone taking time out of their day to read about my lunch plans with my friend Jessica later in the week, or our messages back and forth because the owner of our favorite bagel shop is undergoing a bone marrow transplant this week, and they are having a fundraiser to help him cover medical expenses over the weekend.
One last thought to creep you out a little:
To some other governments around the world - WE are the enemy. They do not have the Constitution legally binding them and what information they can mine. Most likely, they do have someone sitting around reading the text messages back and forth between teenagers: "OMG! No he didn't" and "LOL! Yes he did!".
They probably know all about my lunch plans with Jessica. I just hope they send some money over to the fundraiser at the bagel shop this weekend. His medical expenses are going through the roof.
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