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INLS310 Anonymity & Privacy Update for 19 February 1997



INLS310 Anonymity & Privacy Update for 19 February 1997

CONTENTS:

* Anonymity/Privacy in the News
* Hands-on Help
* Tools
* Policy

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***
***ISSUE: A/P in the News
***

From: Beth Givens <bgivens@privacyrights.org>
Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy
Subject: Free Credit Reports to End
Date: 14 Feb 1997 22:07:49 GMT

The only credit reporting bureau to offer free credit reports to
consumers will halt this practice March 1, 1997.

Experian, formerly known as TRW, has been providing free credit reports
since 1992. It had expected the other two major credit bureaus, Equifax
and Trans Union, to follow suit.  But that has not happened.

Further, consumer advocates had pushed Congress to mandate free credit
reports when it was considering amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting
Act in 1996. But instead, legislators capped the price at $8 per
report.

There are a few instances in which consumers can obtain free credit
reports. Consumers who have been denied credit within the past 30 days
can obtain free reports (the bureaus honor such requests up to 60 days,
which will become law when the amendments to the FCRA go into effect in
October 1997).

In addition, consumers who are unemployed, who receive welfare, or who
are victims of credit fraud will also be able to obtain one free credit
report per year when the new law goes into effect later this year.

To learn how to order a free report from Experian prior to March 1,
call that credit bureau at (800) 682-7654.

--
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
5384 Linda Vista Road  #306
San Diego, CA 92110-2492
Voice:  619-298-3396
Fax:  619-298-5681
bgivens@privacyrights.org
http://www.privacyrights.org


***
***ISSUE: Hands-on Help
***

ANONYMOUS WEB SURFING (Part 2.)

Here's how to configure The Anonymizer (www.anonymizer.com) as a proxy
server in Netscape Navigator. This acts as a filtering device when your
are web surfing to remove information that identifies you, your machine,
and other details about you and your online behavior.

1. Select "Network Preferences" from the "Options" menu.

2. Click on the "Proxies" tab.

3. Select "Manual Proxy Configuration" and then click on the "View"
   button.

4. Click in the box next to "HTTP Proxy" and enter "www.anonymizer.com"
(no quotes). Then click in the "Port" box to the right and type "8080".

5. Click "OK" twice.

Go to www.anonymizer.com for more information. To disable this
function temporarily, select "Network Preferences" from the "Options"
menu again, select "Proxies", and then click on "No Proxies". You can
also add domains that you don't want to have anonymized (such as
ils.unc.edu or unc.edu) in the box at the bottom of the manual proxy
configuration screen. 

The proxy concept also raises some trust and spoofing issues. See:

http://ftp.cs.princeton.edu/sip/pub/spoofingDocumentWithLongUntypeableName.html

for some implications. (Thanks to Chris for posting this page a while 
back.)


***
***ISSUE: Tools
***
 
Apropos of Wednesday's Application Day (Net phones), you can get secure
internet phones that encrypt your calls. Here's some of the most
popular ones:
 
PGPfone (Windows)
http://web.mit.edu/network/pgpfone/
 
Nautilus (Windows)
http://www.lila.com/nautilus/
 
Speak Freely (Windows)
ftp://ftp.fourmilab.ch/pub/kelvin/netfone/windows/speak_freely.html
 
Speak Freely (UNIX)
http://www.fourmilab.ch/speakfree/unix/sfunix.html
 

***
***ISSUE: Policy
***

From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.COM>
Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy
Subject: Big Brother is OK On The Net
Date: 10 Feb 1997 22:23:41 GMT

Excerpt from Closing Bell Internet Daily for Friday, Feb 07, 1997

** Big Brother OK on the Net

The 1996 Equifax/Harris Consumer Privacy Survey finds nearly two-thirds
of U.S. adults "agree that the government needs to scan Internet
messages to prevent online fraud," according to American Demographics
magazine. Almost the same percentage, however, does not want
advertisers and marketers watching Net traffic. The magazine adds
"sixty-four percent say that companies providing services via computers
should not be able to track users for the purpose of sending them
marketing messages."


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Send comments or suggestions to:  macmw@ils.unc.edu
Previous A/P Updates are archived at: http://ils.unc.edu/bitbucks/310