Copyright 1999 The Buffalo News
The Buffalo News
March 14, 1999, Sunday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS, Pg. 11B
LENGTH: 1149 words
HEADLINE:
WILL YOUR COMPUTER TATTLE ON YOU?
BYLINE: FRED O.
WILLIAMS; News Business Reporter
BODY:
Online she was "Amber," a maiden in an Internet fantasy game played
by real people with fictional identities.
But then the 25-year-old Grand
Island woman decided she wanted to meet "Teclis," a virtual knight in the
computer role game. To meet him in real life, she had to drop the digital mask
and reveal her true identity.
It's a decision Internet users face daily,
in less heightened circumstances. Should I type in my name and address for free
access to a newspaper site? Should I give my credit card number to buy a CD? But
now, privacy advocates fear that the decision to reveal
personal information online will be taken out of individuals'
hands.
By branding an electronic serial number onto each of its Pentium
III chips, Intel Corp. may put an end to the Net's anonymity and let
corporations track users' every electronic move, privacy groups charge.
The chip, released by Intel this month, contains an I.D. number
electronically embedded in its processor as an aid to on-line commercial
transactions, Intel says. Web sites can read the number from the processor to
help verify the computer user's identity. Intel said the serial number has an
on-off switch that leaves consumers in control of their information, but privacy
advocates doubt the switch's effectiveness.
"The question is, do we need
to turn the Net into some kind of police state to transact commerce -- we don't
think that's necessary," said Avi Schwartz, policy analyst at the Center for
Democracy and Technology in Washington, D.C.
But Internet commerce
advocates -- including some in Buffalo -- said that overblown privacy fears
shouldn't get in the way of identification systems that will benefit consumers
and make the Internet a safe place for new ways of doing business.
"Information is a form of currency," said Paul Bandrowski, president of
Reciprocal, formerly Rights Exchange Inc. in Buffalo.
Consumers are
often willing to trade some information in return for discounts or free use of
online services. Making that information verifiable by linking it to Intel's
serial number would be worth much to online companies, he said.
"They
(marketers) may say, 'I'll give you 50 percent off if you tell me who you are,'
" Bandrowski said.
The Center for Democracy and Technology is set to
meet Monday with the Federal Trade Commission on its request for an injunction
against Intel's numbered chip. Three other consumer groups joined the Feb. 26
filing against Intel on grounds the processor serial number will harm consumers.
As questions swirled about Intel's chip, Microsoft confirmed that its
Windows 98 operating system also contains an embedded serial number. The number,
capable of being read by Web sites, is linked to the computer owner's name and
address in Microsoft's records when customers register their software.
The revelations drew a response in Albany as well as Washington.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer established an Internet Bureau within the
Department of Law and submitted two online privacy bills to the state
Legislature. One would block junk e-mail; the other restricts Web site operators
from selling surfers' personal information such as name, address and social
security number.
The scenario that worries privacy advocates is that, by
tracking the digital fingerprint left by Intel's chip as you browse the
Internet, marketers will know everything that you read, buy and see online. By
linking that identifying number with existing databases of public information --
such as names and addresses -- a strikingly detailed profile can be built.
"People were surprised that the book Monica Lewinsky bought could be
tracked through her credit card number," Schwartz said. "Imagine if not only
everything you bought, but everything you looked at could be tracked through one
number."
Once issued, I.D. numbers have a way of making themselves
indispensable, taking choice out of users hands, the CDT argues. For example,
Social Security numbers are required information in many situations that have
nothing to do with Social Security, the CDT argues. A processor I.D. number
could similarly become woven deeply into online activity, overwhelming the
original intention of user choice.
"As the information age advances,
consumers are quickly losing the ability to control disclosure of private
information about themselves and their families," Spitzer said.
Protection against piracy
But the information age is also a
headache for companies that distribute music, movies, software and other digital
products that can be copied by computers.
Anti-piracy systems need a way
to identify individual computers, Bandrowski said, to ensure that products
aren't used on unauthorized machines. For example, Circuit City's "Divx" video
format, for metered-use DVD discs, uses special video players that are encoded
with a unique digital signature.
The copy protection system that
Buffalo's Reciprocal is testing loads its own software-based I.D. number into a
computer's internal records. But having the number physically embedded in the
system's hardware is a more tamper-proof I.D. tag, Bandrowski said.
Consumers will still be able to decide whether to allow their Pentium
III chip to disclose its digital I.D. number, he added.
"The intent is
not to steal information from them (consumers) or eliminate privacy," he said.
"It's up to consumers to decide how they buy."
Sales of the Pentium III
apparently haven't been affected by the outcry over privacy. The chip is selling
slightly ahead of Intel's own forecasts, a company official said recently. Most
PC buyers are businesses, which are less sensitive to privacy and more concerned
about network security -- a selling point for the Pentium serial number.
The issues of online identity and accountability are more than academic
far Internet users in Western New York.
In January, 10-year-old Derrick
Wollert of Orchard Park was banned for life by America Online after claiming to
be an AOL agent in an e-mail message. AOL later reversed its decision, but the
Draconian policy illustrates how seriously online services take acts of
misrepresentation.
"On the Internet, you are who you say you are," said
Kirk Miller, vice president of the access provider Prime Communications in
Amherst.
Guards against imposters
Without secure identification
methods online, people posing as service agents can obtain passwords and other
valuable information from unsuspecting users.
For "Amber" who did not
want her real name used, taking the step to reveal personal information turned
out well. She exchanged pictures with her online romantic partner, a 20-year-old
college student from England. Pleased at what she saw, she met him last year.
The virtual romance managed the transition to the real world, and the
couple were reunited last month for a visit during Valentine's Day weekend.
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