Comments on: One more time: the Internet is public http://blog.mischel.com/2008/06/16/one-more-time-the-internet-has-no-window-shades/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:24:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Darrin Chandler http://blog.mischel.com/2008/06/16/one-more-time-the-internet-has-no-window-shades/comment-page-1/#comment-2554 Darrin Chandler Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:49:25 +0000 http://blog.mischel.com/?p=127#comment-2554 Michael has a point, but you can encrypt your web content as well. That's an orthogonal issue. The real problem here is that many people don't understand that pretty much ALL traffic on the Internet is viewable by SOMEONE who isn't a trusted party. Even VPN traffic is visible to many outside organizations, but since it's encrypted they hopefully can't make sense of it. The misunderstanding is not limited to the web. A recurring problem I see is people getting upset that their email to a mailing list contains their personal info (phone number, etc.) They somehow don't realize that unknown people will read the list, and that it will be available and searchable through usenet[1] or a web archive. The real issue is not whether one can have privacy while using the internet, but rather knowing when something is public or not. Awareness of this will increase, but it'll be a problem for a long time to come. [1] many popular mailing lists are gatewayed to usenet. Michael has a point, but you can encrypt your web content as well. That’s an orthogonal issue. The real problem here is that many people don’t understand that pretty much ALL traffic on the Internet is viewable by SOMEONE who isn’t a trusted party. Even VPN traffic is visible to many outside organizations, but since it’s encrypted they hopefully can’t make sense of it.

The misunderstanding is not limited to the web. A recurring problem I see is people getting upset that their email to a mailing list contains their personal info (phone number, etc.) They somehow don’t realize that unknown people will read the list, and that it will be available and searchable through usenet[1] or a web archive.

The real issue is not whether one can have privacy while using the internet, but rather knowing when something is public or not. Awareness of this will increase, but it’ll be a problem for a long time to come.

[1] many popular mailing lists are gatewayed to usenet.

]]> By: Michael Covington http://blog.mischel.com/2008/06/16/one-more-time-the-internet-has-no-window-shades/comment-page-1/#comment-2524 Michael Covington Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:14:59 +0000 http://blog.mischel.com/?p=127#comment-2524 Good comments. But by "Internet" I think you mean "World Wide Web." There's plenty of privacy on the Internet in things like VPNs, encrypted e-mail, etc. Good comments. But by “Internet” I think you mean “World Wide Web.” There’s plenty of privacy on the Internet in things like VPNs, encrypted e-mail, etc.

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