Web security and privacy: An American perspective – L. Jean Camp

There are confusions between security and privacy. Privacy requires security because without the ability to control access and distribution of information, privacy cannot be protected. But security is not privacy. Anonymity requires security and guarantees privacy but is neither. Security is often confused with privacy because security is concerned with confidentiality. Security has three goals: integrity, authentication, and confidentiality. Integrity means that information is not altered, what is received is exactly what is sent; information is not altered during storage. Information has integrity during transmission if the recipient can be certain that the information was not altered in transit. Authentication is establishing user identity or other attributes of interest.
Authentication enables access control. With access control individual files or data files can have different levels of access. Browsing information depends on the policies, practices, and physical configuration of the user’s internet service. Information availability depends upon the type and version of the customer’s browser. Browser software can send information on available helper applications to servers. Helper applications offer probabilistic information about the consumer’s machine and even interests. The American right to privacy has two sets of rights: right of autonomy and rights of seclusion. The right of seclusion can be seen in the original definition of the right to privacy by Warren and Brandeis as “the right to be let alone”.
The right to let alone has been defined into four kinds of privacy rights: intrusion upon seclusion, appropriation of name and likeness, false light and public disclosure of private facts. Intrusion upon seclusion is a violation of rights to seclusion. Appropriation of name and likeness is the use of person’s name, reputation, or image without his or her consent. False light is the publication of information that is misleading and thus shows an individual in a false light. Public disclosure of private facts is information deemed as newsworthy can be printed even if it is a violation of privacy.