Privacy and security at risk in the global information society

Abstract

In the global information society, individual privacy is seriously endangered. An increasing amount of personal data is being transferred around the world, and communication data of users could be easily traced and used to create individual communication using new information infrastructures. With contemporary network technologies, it is difficult to protect personal data adequately. The Internet, as an important contemporary information highway, is missing essential features of reliability, functionality, confidentiality and integrity, and is threatened by various security attacks.

This paper discusses privacy and security risks in the global information society. It also compares and critically analyses the approaches to privacy protection of different information infrastructure programmes. The difficulties for a common harmonised legal approach to privacy protection, due to cultural differences, are analysed. Finally, possibilities for designing information infrastructures adequate under social and privacy requirements (in particular privacy‐enhancing technologies) are discussed.

Keywords:

• global information society
• information infrastructure programmes
• privacy
• privacy‐enhancing technologies
• security