WASHINGTON-What's private on the Web? Not much, these days, and perhaps less than that in days to come unless the issue of what protections should be enacted and/or enforced are clarified, fears Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) During hearings last week held by the Constitution Subcommittee on the subject of "The Fourth Amendment and the Internet," which he requested following a debate about whether to build law enforcement wiretapping access into the Internet, Barr and several witnesses testified that privacy issues need to be openly debated. "Internet use is exploding in America and around the world; improving our social, economic, and political interaction in numerous ways. However, all this electronic communication is creating a significant side effect: data. Practically any electronic transaction- from e-mail to a chat room visit to an online purchase-leaves tracks. "On the one hand, these tracks can provide law enforcement with new means to catch criminals. On the other hand, allowing massive and constant government monitoring of this information threatens to end personal privacy forever, and shatter the consumer confidence on which our electronic economy depends." The hearing testimony brought out the fact that several federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Depart-ment of Justice have recently shown a "vacuum cleaner surveillance approach" to the Internet, sucking in all kinds of irrelevant data, then isolating, storing, and manipulating items of interest. "This approach rejects time-honored principles (enshrined in law) that have done a remarkably good job of balancing privacy and law enforcement. These principles include the Fourth Amendment's particularity requirement and statutory provisions, such as the Privacy Act," said Barr. While protecting business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and even direct financial transactions on the Internet is essential to maintaining its viability, the Web is certainly not "hack-proof," as recent refusal of services on major sites has shown. The concern may be that protecting one aspect of the Net's usage (which is a plus) is pursued, another valuable advantage may be lost-anonymity. -
caburger@cutimes.com
