The rapid development of the digital age provides people with a vast space where there is a large amount of information, including some public and private information. But at some point, people’s private information has been “shared” by everyone. Such infringements are often manifested in the invasion and destruction of other people’s online privacy data, online communication content, quiet life on the Internet, and personal cyberspace. Especially in recent years, the number of network infringement incidents has intensified, dramatically threatening the general public’s network privacy rights. Strengthening the protection of personal network privacy has become a focal issue in the development of information network security in contemporary society. How to solve the threat to personal privacy caused by the rapid growth of the Internet has become a significant research topic for positive social action. This article focuses on analyzing the connotation and characteristics of network privacy, and further explores the security of network privacy by taking telecommuting (ZOOM) as an example.
Characteristics of Internet Privacy
The vulnerability of online privacy
The privacy rights of netizens are easily violated, and such violations often cause great property and spiritual damage to private users. When people use websites to browse various information, these websites require users to register confidential information (Heffes, 2008). For example, the user’s name, gender, home address, contact information, etc. These websites’ technical company have collected personal information. Due to the characteristics of the Internet, such personal data is easily leaked, and once it occurs, it will cause irreparable property and mental damage to the victim.
The duality of online privacy personality and property
The traditional right to privacy is mainly to protect the stability of private life and the control of personal information to protect the dignity of individual personality. However, nowadays, the right to privacy has changed. Personal information has the value of property, and this private information is likely to become the object of commercial interests that has gradually gained economic value (Maewick and Boyd, 2018). Gradually, people’s privacy has become transparent. Driven by interests, some people have become interested in the privacy of others. They are not only concerned about the value of privacy, but more importantly, the economic value.
Threats to Internet Privacy
Reasons for the vulnerability of online privacy
- The reason for the vulnerability of network privacy is the high-speed spread of network information across space. As long as someone leaks sensitive private information, the high-speed spread of the network will make this private information spread around the world, and the consequences can be imagined.
- The openness and mutuality of network information dissemination lead to the fragility of network privacy rights, and network users can use computers and mobile phones to publish information, reprint and comment at any time (Flew, 2021). A high degree of openness determines the vulnerability of online privacy.
- Negligence of network operations supervisors. The network is a space with massive capacity, and the information contained in it is innumerable, which has caused great difficulties and high supervision costs for network supervision departments. In addition, laws and systems for online privacy rights are not complete and detailed enough (Roberts, 2019). There is a lack of necessary norms for website operators to maintain the privacy rights of netizens and essential penalties.
Privacy Protection Law
In recent years, many countries have promulgated relevant laws and regulations to regulate and guide information security and privacy protection issues strictly.
In Australia
On October 25, 2021, Australia announced its proposed “Online Privacy Act“, requiring social media companies to obtain parental consent when providing services to users under the age of 16. When collecting data, the interests of children need to be given priority. Users can make relevant requirements not to use or disclose personal information and have the right to refuse direct marketing of personal data for use. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has full investigative and enforcement powers (Australian Government, n.d.). For example, social media platforms that fail to comply with the relevant regulations will be fined 10% of their annual turnover or three times the financial benefit of any violation. If the Online Privacy Act is successfully enacted, Australia will become one of the countries with the strictest user age controls on social media platforms.
In the United States
The United States is one of the most developed countries on the Internet, and it also pays more attention to online privacy. The United States promulgated the “Privacy Act” in 1974, which made complete regulations on how the government should collect data and keep information; in 1986, the United States clearly stated in the “Federal Point in Communications Privacy Act” that the interception of private data is prohibited. On June 28, 2018, California issued the CCPA “California Consumer Privacy Protection Act” (Rob Bonta, n.d.). The “most stringent and comprehensive personal privacy protection bill” in the United States will take effect on January 1, 2020. In Nevada, on May 29, 2019, the United States issued SB 220, “Nevada Data Privacy Act“. The bill addresses internet privacy and requires internet sites and online services operators to follow consumers’ instructions not to sell their data. Violations of SB 220 may result in an injunction to the operator or a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violation. SB 220 came into effect on October 1, 2019.
The Threat of Telecommuting to User Privacy
source (Xi 2020)
source With the rapid development of the digital economy and the wide application of Internet technology, a number of new forms of work that are different from traditional forms of work have emerged around the world in recent years. The telecommuting model, as a characteristic product in the information society, has changed the traditional fixed work mode, which shortens the time and space of the office, enables workers to have more freedom of control, and further stimulates their subjective initiative in their work. Especially during the COVID-19 epidemic, telecommuting has made an indelible contribution to ensuring the employment of workers, maintaining the operation of social machines, and restoring economic development.
After the advent of the digital age, the emergence of remote office technology has lifted the bond between space and time in the traditional work field, and workers can complete work remotely through Internet technology in places with certain conditions. In a narrow sense, telecommuting refers to establishing a real-time channel to synchronize and control computers for office work remotely. In a broad sense, telecommuting refers to establishing a secure and stable tunnel connecting the intranet in a chaotic public network through a virtual private network (VPN), which meets the user’s full range of office needs, including access to the company’s internal mail, internal-database and remote control. Therefore, telecommuting is to complete work in a non-working place with the support of “remote” technology, and the content of the work is not substantially different.
Control and supervision of the employer
In the process of telecommuting, workers’ privacy is vulnerable to violations by employers in two aspects: on the one hand, employers install software on telecommuting devices such as office computers and smartphones to monitor workers’ work and assess performance. According to a related report from Bloomberg, it is not uncommon for the privacy of telecommuting workers to be collected and monitored by employers. Axos Financial, an American online bank, requires telecommuting employees to install software on their computers to accept the company’s supervision and urges employees to work by email: “The websites you visit are being recorded, and every 10 minutes we’re taking screenshots of your computer screen, so get to work or suffer the consequences.”
On the other hand, the employer will use the collected information of telecommuting workers to describe the workers’ personalities through language analysis, social assessment and other procedures, or cooperate with a third party to form a data portrait. And then use this as a basis to decide on employment issues, which affect the right of workers to choose jobs in the future.
Privacy threats to users of telecommuting platforms
In addition to the ability of employers to monitor and record the lives of telecommuters, telecommuting platforms company can also collect personal information about telecommuters, which data is more personally dependent. During the COVID-19, Zoom’s user base in international markets skyrocketed from 10 million daily active users at the end of December 2019 to 200 million in March 2020. However, there are serious privacy and security concerns associated with such a large user base, as Zoom collects information on users’ names, addresses, job titles, employers, etc. Even if a user logs into Zoom as a guest, information about the device and their IP address are collected. If they log into Zoom using another social account (such as Facebook), it collects all of their data from that account. Benjamin and Shreeharsh mentioned that on March 31, 2020, Zoom had leaked emails, photos and private Zoom videos of thousands of users to third parties, despite the proactive steps Zoom took to address the error. And caused significant damage and caused Zoom’s share price to fall by nearly 15%.
source (Cawley 2020)
source Threats to user privacy from network systems
In the process of telecommuting, for cyberattacks on telecommuting, workers pay more attention to information security. However, the telecommuting mode was not mainstream in the past, and information security measures have not been perfected and improved for a long time (PR Newswire, 2020). The network security defence system in the environment is weak and vulnerable to network attacks. During the COVID-19 epidemic, the types and numbers of cyber attacks have increased dramatically, and enterprises that use remote office work are the hardest-hit areas of cyberattacks. Ruhle and Schmoll (2021) shows that about two-fifths (41%) of organizations that experienced a data breach had suffered a cyberattack in 2020. However, a year after the outbreak, Koch (2020) shows that nearly half (46%) still reported that their the security infrastructure was not ready to handle the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, with only one in five (20%) businesses feeling that they are ready. The security risks of telecommuting software are also one of the reasons why the network frequently attacks telecommuting. Zoom used to set up a local web server on a user’s Mac device, allowing Zoom to bypass the pop-up prompt when opening the camera, with the consequence that anyone could maliciously take over the camera without the user’s permission. Zoom blindly pursues convenience to seize market share, but ignores privacy and security issues. Many colleges and universities in the United States and well-known institutions such as NASA and Spacen X have stopped using Zoom.
Conclusion
In general, in the digital age, it is not only the Internet, computers, mobile phones and various mobile applications that people rely on for daily life and work to process user information. In the face of ubiquitous data capture and processing, social information collection has become the norm, and it will not be easy to protect privacy in the traditional sense effectively. As an emerging work mode, the telecommuting mode will inevitably involve areas not regulated by the law in the development process, violating the privacy and security of users. The application of digital technology optimizes the working environment and provides work convenience, and expands the risk of privacy infringement. However, the digital technology itself is not the key, but the improvement of the application function of digital technology, the regulation of the use method, and the protection of telecommuting. In addition to rectifying the online service business environment and cracking down on cybercrimes, labour privacy should also implement the employer’s legal responsibility.
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Reference Lists
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Rob Bonta. (n.d.). California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa
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