How Wired Gadgets Encroach on Privacy

(page 2 of 2)

Is the State's Power Growing?

But the user's need for protection, coupled with the manufacturer's desire for control, can lead to a dangerous situation, Zittrain writes: "A shift to tethered appliances also entails a sea change in the regulability of the Internet" (author's emphasis). The "dangers of excess" will no longer come from viruses or hackers anymore, "but from the much more predictable interventions by regulators into the devices themselves, and in turn into the ways that people can use the appliances."

In other words, it is not just the power of the manufacturers over the users of their devices that is growing as a result of tethered appliances—indirectly the power of the state is also growing. They are able to put enough pressure on any manufacturer to force it to help out with monitoring or control of private individuals. Anyone who believes that large companies would not bend to the will of autocrats and dictators just needs to take a look at the situation in China, where search engines and Internet providers do exactly what the Chinese government tells them to do.

A dramatic example of Zittrain's thesis occurred recently in the United Arab Emirates. Wired magazine and The Register reported how the local Internet provider, Etisalat (7020.SE), sent out a software update to around 145,000 of their Blackberry customers. However, thanks to a software glitch that caused the battery power in all the affected Blackberrys to be drained, it was discovered that the software update also included surveillance software.

The spying part of the software was switched off—but all it needed was a command from the Internet server and the Blackberrys would send e-mail and text messages in an encrypted form to an unknown recipient. IT experts believe the intended recipient was local security forces. To date, Etisalat has not made a statement in response to the allegations. The company's sole response has been a curt press release stating that the reason for the update was simply "to improve the service quality."

Blackberry-maker Research in Motion (RIMM) has since warned customers not to install the unauthorized upgrade and has also made software available to that removes it.

Government Meddling

In his book, Zittrain also outlines similar cases, which admittedly don't look quite as serious at first glance. In the US, an auto manufacturer helped out the FBI with a car navigation system that could be reconfigured to eavesdrop on the vehicle's occupants via the navigation system's microphone. The automaker's engineers could switch on the microphone in the car remotely. There is at least one documented case of that happening, with the approval of a judge.

Also in the US, in 2006, another judge decreed that EchoStar (SATS), a manufacturer of satellite dishes and receivers, should reduce the functionality of devices it had already sold. This was because EchoStar's competitor, TiVo (TIVO), which makes digital video recorders, was accusing EchoStar of violating its patents. EchoStar was told they would have to deactivate the built-in video recorder function. They were to do this retroactively using a software update. The consequences for the users would be that the function—which owners had already paid for—would disappear, as would all the programs they had already recorded. Happily for the owners, the order has been delayed while the legal wrangling continues.

Such instances, writes Zittrain, illustrate the "strange and troubling issues that arise from the curious technological hybrids that increasingly populate the digital world." And that applies not only to hardware with software connections, but also for Web-based software, from Facebook to Google (GOOG) Mail. "As with tethered appliances, when Web 2.0 services change their offerings, the user may have no ability to keep using an older version, as one might do with software that stops being actively made available." And naturally it would also be easy for the authorities to gain access to user data via the operators of such Web sites, provided they find the right legal means.

We will need to get used to the fact that these "curious technological hybrids" will never fully belong to us—even if we have paid a lot of money for them. Every Webmail account, every high-tech telephone and every DVD player with an Internet connection has the potential to inhibit our freedom and privacy a little bit more.

Provided by Spiegel Online—Read the latest from Europe's largest newsmagazine

Business Exchange

Track and share business topics across the Web.