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Science and Technology
emailCan you think of any negative effects that come from email? It's likely that if you have much experience with email, you can probably think of at least one. You may have thought of spam or phishing or you may have considered the way that communication has changed since email began to be widely used. Phishing is sending an email pretending to be from a legitimate business or agency (like a bank or the government) in order to retrieve a person's personal information for criminal reasons. Spam is unsolicited email that is sent to many emails at the same time, often for money-making purposes.

When email was first invented in the 1960s and 1970s, the people who used it thought that it was a great invention. The list of users was small, but it allowed people in different areas of the world to communicate easily with each other. However, email was created without many safeguards for the users. At the time, they really weren't needed and the creators didn't necessarily envision the millions of users that now take advantage of this technology or the negative effects that email might have on individuals and society.

Spam, phishing, and the changes in communication that we see are unintended effects of email. As we will see in this unit, science and technology can make our lives better and more efficient, but they can also create problems for individuals and society. In the unit, we will consider some of the different problems that have developed in the areas of science and technology.

Identity Theft

Identify theft is becoming an increasing problem in modern society, where we often rely on secondary information to prove who we are (as opposed to the personal knowledge that people had of each other in the past). Identity theft is "when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, Social Security number, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes," according to the US Federal Trade Commission. In other words, identity theft involves someone using your information to gain credit in your name or to gain things like telephone service.

lock and credit cardIn the United States, an estimated nine million people experience identity theft each year. It is one of the fastest growing crimes in the US right now and the numbers are expected to continue to rise, in part because new technologies make it hard to stop this problem. The effects of identity theft are wide ranging. Individuals may be unable to get credit or take out loans, be passed over for jobs and other opportunities, and may even be arrested for crimes that they didn't commit. Identity thieves may run up large charges and debts, which can take the real person months or years to sort out and clear from their names.

How do identity thieves gain this information? If you think about all of the information that we give out in various forms each day, it is perhaps not surprising that more individuals are not victims of identity theft. Thieves may gain names, identification numbers (such as a social security number or driver's license number), addresses, and other personal information out of our trash, by stealing purses and wallets, and by changing the address on bills and other mail to obtain the information. Thieves are also increasingly using technology to steal this information. Special devices may be used to gain the information from credit cards when you pay at a legitimate store, phishing emails or pop-ups may claim to need personal information for a service that you currently use, or spyware programs may be used to learn passwords and other personal information.

One of the growing problems associated with identity theft is criminal identity theft, which is the use of an innocent person's identity and information when someone is arrested for a crime. The Federal Trade Commission suggests that about 15 percent of all individuals who experience identity theft also experience criminal identity theft. The problem for victims arises when the identity thief fails to appear in court and arrest warrants are issued under the innocent person's name. Eventually, the innocent person will find themselves dealing with law enforcement over the issue and they may be arrested or jailed until they can prove that they are not the individual who committed the crime. The larger problem is that it is very hard to completely clear an arrest warrant from a person's record. At this time, there are no ways of completely erasing the problem for victims.

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Data Profiling
Data profiling is the collection and analysis of information from individuals. Data profiling happens in many different areas of our lives. Cell phone companies note which numbers are called and received. Credit card companies collect information on where purchases are made and the overall purchase price. Grocery stores may collect information on what consumers are buying through grocery discount cards. Data is collected each time we subscribe to a newspaper or magazine, sign up for special deals or notices, and surf the Internet. In other words, information about our lives and purchases are increasingly being collected and examined by other people.

Data profiling often happens online. In the late 1990s, a study suggested that over ninety percent of websites collected some type of data from the individuals who visited the site. The information might include IP addresses, email addresses, names, and postal addresses. The information collected is often compiled into profiles, which can then be "mined." Data mining is the process of creating data profiles for individuals, which can then be used for targeted marketing.

Who uses the information from data mining? The information is mainly used by companies for marketing and other purposes. For example, some movie rental companies collect information on the movies that you are interested in or have rated in order to suggest movies to you that you might like. Companies may also use your information to send you more information about other products or services that they offer that they believe you may be interested in. For example, if you regularly use a salon for haircuts, they may send you coupons or information for other services like massages or manicures. In some cases, some or all of the information gained may be sold to third parties, who can then use your information to send you information about their products and services. For example, a company may sell your information to marketing companies who will then sell your information to other companies who are interested in people like you (age, location, interests, etc.) Finally, the government uses data mining to investigate criminal activities.

Some individuals argue that the collection of data by companies is not that problematic. They state that if individuals are law-abiding citizens, this collection of data can not cause individuals harm. They also argue that data profiling and data mining have been going on for many years in various forms. For example, stores that published catalogs and mailed them to consumers have long engaged in these practices, including selling the information to third parties.

Other individuals, however, argue that these practices pose risks for individuals. These practices essentially create a profile of a person, but the profile is not the whole person. Companies and the government may make assumptions based on information in a profile, which may be a wrong conclusion for the overall person. For example, in the 1990s, it was reported that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) had subpoenaed a grocery store chain's data obtained through the use of discount cards. What do you think the DEA was looking for in these records? It may surprise you to learn that the search was looking for the purchase of large numbers of baggies on the assumption that individuals who purchased a lot of these might be involved in dealing drugs. This example highlights how the information from data profiling and mining can give us the wrong assumptions about people. While drug dealers may buy large quantities of baggies, so too might individuals involved in crafts, those with large families, or someone buying for a daycare, church or school.

Data profiling and data mining will likely continue into the future, largely because the data is easy to obtain and there are few legal restrictions right now on how data can be used and merged with the data gained from other companies. Some countries such as Canada and Australia have passed greater restrictions on this area than countries like the United States, but the technology is advancing so quickly that the laws and restrictions cannot fully keep up. Legislation in the United States, such as the Patriot Act, has opened up the data collected to secondary uses by the government to a greater degree. The information industry has also continued to grow, collecting massive amounts of data about individuals.