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121-437: HOIC was developed during the conclusion of Operation Payback by the hacktivist collective Anonymous . As Operation Payback concluded there was massive pressure on the group from law enforcement agencies, which captured and prosecuted more than 13 individuals connected with the group. This forced many members of the group to rethink their strategies and subsequently this part of the group launched Operation Leakspin . However

242-457: A "no photos" tag to indicate they would prefer not to have their photo taken (see photo) . The Harvard Law Review published a short piece called "In The Face of Danger: Facial Recognition and Privacy Law", much of it explaining how "privacy law, in its current form, is of no help to those unwillingly tagged." Any individual can be unwillingly tagged in a photo and displayed in a manner that might violate them personally in some way, and by

363-413: A 2009 study, Flash cookies were found to be a popular mechanism for storing data on the top 100 most visited sites. Another 2011 study of social media found that, "Of the top 100 web sites, 31 had at least one overlap between HTTP and Flash cookies." However, modern browsers and anti-malware software can now block or detect and remove such cookies. Flash cookies, also known as local shared objects , work

484-422: A DDoS attack as part of Operation Payback. When asked about the attacks, Andrew Crossley, owner of ACS:Law, said: "It was only down for a few hours. I have far more concern over the fact of my train turning up 10 minutes late or having to queue for a coffee than them wasting my time with this sort of rubbish." When the site came back online a 350 MB file, which was a backup of the site, was visible to anyone for

605-668: A Google account and are logged in. Google will treat a user as a single user across all of their products. Google claims the new privacy policy will benefit its users by being simpler. Google will, for example, be able to correct the spelling of a user's friend's name in a Google search or notify a user they are late based on their calendar and current location. Even though Google updated its privacy policy, its core privacy guidelines did not change. For example, Google still does not sell personal information or share it externally. Users and public officials have raised many concerns regarding Google's new privacy policy. The main concern/issue involves

726-488: A Swiss politician , barely avoided public scandal when he was photographed in 2009 on Google Street View walking with a woman who was not his wife – the woman was actually his secretary. Similar situations occur when Street View provides high-resolution photographs – and photographs hypothetically offer compelling objective evidence. But as the case of the Swiss politician illustrates, even supposedly compelling photographic evidence

847-486: A WikiLeaks cable that linked her with the alleged trade in illicit diamonds . On January 27, 2011, five males aged between 15 and 26 were arrested in early morning raids in the U.K. on suspicion of involvement, and the FBI executed 40 search warrants the same day. The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office said that when its site was attacked, those responsible were depriving its citizens of access to information they have

968-556: A certain individual. In an article featured in ABC News, it was stated that two teams of scientists found out that Hollywood stars could be giving up information about their private whereabouts very easily through pictures uploaded to the Internet. Moreover, it was found that pictures taken by some phones and tablets, including iPhones , automatically attach the latitude and longitude of the picture taken through metadata unless this function

1089-560: A court battle with the RIAA over claims of copyright infringement. Not satisfied with the injunction, the RIAA announced its intention to continue the Arista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLC trial to recover damages caused by the program. In retaliation, members of Operation Payback announced that they would attack RIAA's website on October 29, despite the fact that the group typically does not hit

1210-450: A democratic right to access. Other critics claimed the attacks restricted Gene Simmons' right to free speech. A spokesman for the MPAA said, "It's troubling that these groups seem more concerned about the rights of those who steal and copy films, music, books, and other creative resources than the rights of American workers who are producing these products." There was also some criticism from

1331-407: A free Firefox plugin that protects against Evercookies. This plugin extends Firefox's private browsing mode so that users will be completely protected from ever-cookies. Never-cookies eliminate the entire manual deletion process while keeping the cookies users want like browsing history and saved account information. A device fingerprint is information collected about the software and hardware of

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1452-532: A large part of Anonymous remained focused on launching opt-in DDoS attacks. However the Low Orbit Ion Cannon was not powerful enough to launch attacks with such a limited number of users. HOIC was designed to remedy this with the ability to cause an HTTP Flood with as few as 50 user agents being required to successfully launch an attack, and co-ordination between multiple users leading to an exponential increase in

1573-696: A major concern for Internet privacy advocates. Third-Party Requests are HTTP data connections from client devices to addresses on the web which are different from the website the user is currently surfing. Many alternative tracking technologies to cookies are based on third-party requests. Their importance has increased during the last few years and even accelerated after Mozilla (2019), Apple (2020), and Google (2022) have announced to block third-party cookies by default. Third requests may be used for embedding external content (e.g. advertisements) or for loading external resources and functions (e.g. images, icons, fonts, captchas, JQuery resources and many others). Depending on

1694-617: A maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. In the United States, denial-of-service attacks may be considered a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act with penalties that include up to ten years of imprisonment. In 2013 criminal charges were brought against 13 members of Anonymous for participating in a DDoS attack against various websites of organizations including the Recording Industry Association of America,

1815-769: A more efficient rate because all searched information during times of login will help to narrow down new search results. Google's privacy policy explains what information they collect and why they collect it, how they use the information, and how to access and update information. Google will collect information to better service its users such as their language, which ads they find useful, or people that are important to them online. Google announces they will use this information to provide, maintain and protect Google and its users. The information Google uses will give users more relevant search results and advertisements. The new privacy policy explains that Google can use shared information on one service in other Google services from people who have

1936-511: A new system where the Google search became personalized. The item that is searched and the results that are shown remember previous information that pertains to the individual. Google search engine not only seeks what is searched but also strives to allow the user to feel like the search engine recognizes their interests. This is achieved by using online advertising. A system that Google uses to filter advertisements and search results that might interest

2057-584: A part of a botnet . Utilising this tool, the coordinators of Operation Payback were able to quickly take down websites belonging to anti-piracy groups. Botnets of all sizes have also been used. Members of Operation Payback reportedly used an IRC channel to communicate about which targets to select, after which instructions for attacking the targets were produced and posted on various imageboards (4chan/7chan/711chan/420chan/808chan). Media such as Twitter and Facebook were also utilized for coordination, but on December 8, 2010, Operation Payback's Facebook page

2178-433: A per-site or global basis . Adobe's Flash and (PDF) Reader are not the only browser plugins whose past security defects have allowed spyware or malware to be installed: there have also been problems with Oracle's Java. Evercookie , created by Samy Kamkar , is a JavaScript-based application which produces cookies in a web browser that actively "resist" deletion by redundantly copying themselves in different forms on

2299-428: A person is logged into his/her Google account, and only if he/she is logged in, information will be gathered from multiple Google services in which he/she has used in order to be more accommodating. Google's new privacy policy will combine all data used on Google's search engines (i.e., YouTube and Gmail) in order to work along the lines of a person's interests. A person, in effect, will be able to find what he/she wants at

2420-409: A person's whereabouts, activities, and private property. Moreover, the technology's disclosure of information about a person is less abstract in the sense that, if photographed, a person is represented on Street View in a virtual replication of his or her own real-life appearance. In other words, the technology removes abstractions of a person's appearance or that of his or her personal belongings – there

2541-484: A remote computing device to identify individual devices even when persistent cookies (and also zombie cookies ) cannot be read or stored in the browser, the client IP address is hidden, and even if one switches to another browser on the same device. This may allow a service provider to detect and prevent identity theft and credit card fraud , but also to compile long-term records of individuals' browsing histories even when they're attempting to avoid tracking , raising

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2662-497: A short period of time. The backup, which included copies of emails sent by the firm, was downloaded and made available on various peer-to-peer networks and websites including The Pirate Bay . Some of the emails contained unencrypted Excel spreadsheets, listing the names and addresses of people that ACS:Law had accused of illegally sharing media. One contained more than 5,300 Sky broadband customers whom they had accused of illegally sharing pornography , while another contained

2783-420: A single URL. Other methods to counter DDoS include installation of intrusion prevention system (IPS) and intrusion detection system (IDS) devices and application software. Anonymous were the first group to utilize High Orbit Ion Cannon publicly on January 19, 2012. After Megaupload , a file-sharing website, was shut down following federal agents raiding their premises, Anonymous launched an attack against

2904-673: A smartphone, geolocation data may be compromised. In late 2007, Facebook launched the Beacon program in which user commercial activity was released to the public for friends to see. Beacon created considerable controversy soon after it was launched due to privacy concerns, and the Lane v. Facebook, Inc. case ensued. The architecture of the Internet Protocol necessitates that a website receives IP addresses of its visitors, which can be tracked through time. Companies match data over time to associate

3025-572: A specific attack on the Palins. In December 2010, WikiLeaks came under intense pressure to stop publishing secret U.S. diplomatic cables. Corporations such as Amazon , PayPal , BankAmerica , Swiss bank PostFinance , MasterCard and Visa either stopped working with or froze their customers' donations to WikiLeaks due to political pressures. In response, those behind Operation Payback directed their activities against these companies. Operation Payback launched DDoS attacks against PayPal, PostFinance and

3146-431: A total damage amount, nor a method of calculating the number of infringements. The judge in the case rejected the proposal, holding that case law only supported statutory damages on a per-work basis for large-scale infringement, thus capping the potential award at $ 1.5 billion. On March 15, 2011, four days after the ruling, a report appeared on Law.com highlighting the judge's remark that the per-infringement award sought by

3267-411: A total of 38 hours. At some point during the course of this DDoS, GeneSimmons.com was hacked and redirected to ThePirateBay.org . In response to the attack Simmons wrote: Some of you may have heard a few popcorn farts re: our sites being threatened by hackers. Our legal team and the FBI have been on the case and we have found a few, shall we say "adventurous" young people, who feel they are above

3388-451: A year before it becomes obsolete for public usage. Yahoo! follows in the footsteps of Google in the sense that it also deletes user information after a period of ninety days. Other search engines such as Ask! search engine have promoted a tool of "AskEraser" which essentially takes away personal information when requested. Some changes made to Internet search engines included that of Google's search engine. Beginning in 2009, Google began to run

3509-473: Is accomplished by sending excessive traffic in an attempt to overload the site and bring it down. This basic version of the attack can be customized by using the booster files which follow the VB 6 mixed with VB .NET syntax. In addition, HOIC can simultaneously attack up to 256 domains, making it one of the most versatile tools for hackers who are attempting to co-ordinate DDoS attacks as a group. The minimalist GUI of

3630-411: Is also a host of wrapper applications that will redirect cookies and cache data to some other location. Concerns exist that the privacy benefits of deleting cookies have been over-stated. The process of profiling (also known as "tracking") assembles and analyzes several events, each attributable to a single originating entity, in order to gain information (especially patterns of activity) relating to

3751-526: Is an immediate disclosure of the person and object, as they visually exist in real life. Although Street View began to blur license plates and people's faces in 2008, the technology is faulty and does not entirely ensure against accidental disclosure of identity and private property. The researchers note that "many of the concerns leveled at Street View stem from situations where its photograph-like images were treated as definitive evidence of an individual's involvement in particular activities." In one instance,

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3872-620: Is data stored on a user's computer that assists in automated access to websites or web features, or other state information required in complex websites. It may also be used for user-tracking by storing special usage history data in a cookie, and such cookies — for example, those used by Google Analytics — are called tracking cookies . Cookies are a common concern in the field of Internet privacy. Although website developers most commonly use cookies for legitimate technical purposes, cases of abuse occur. In 2009, two researchers noted that social networking profiles could be connected to cookies, allowing

3993-468: Is in regard to the collection of user information from a variety of sources. In the United States , the 1997 Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) created under President Clinton defined information privacy as "an individual's claim to control the terms under which personal information — information identifiable to the individual — is acquired, disclosed, and used." At the end of the 1990s, with

4114-415: Is known as online behavioural advertising which allows advertisers to keep track of the consumer's website visits to personalize and target advertisements. Ever-cookies enable advertisers to continue to track a customer regardless of whether their cookies are deleted or not. Some companies are already using this technology but the ethics are still being widely debated. Anonymizer "nevercookies" are part of

4235-425: Is manually disabled. Face recognition technology can be used to gain access to a person's private data, according to a new study. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University combined image scanning, cloud computing and public profiles from social networking sites to identify individuals in the offline world. Data captured even included a user's social security number. Experts have warned of the privacy risks faced by

4356-583: Is more like a noisy political demonstration, like a mob surrounding a bank and refusing to let anyone in or out" said one cyber expert. Operation Payback members used a modified version of the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) to execute the DDoS attacks. In September 2010, a "Hive Mind" mode was added to the LOIC. While in Hive Mind mode, the LOIC connects to IRC , where it can be controlled remotely. This allows computers with LOIC installed on them to behave as if they were

4477-410: Is necessary for social networking sites. Additionally, some fear the sharing of data amongst Google services could lead to revelations of identities. Many using pseudonyms are concerned about this possibility, and defend the role of pseudonyms in literature and history. Some solutions to being able to protect user privacy on the Internet can include programs such as "Rapleaf" which is a website that has

4598-495: Is set up, however, allows for AOL to keep records of all the websites visited by any given member. Even though the true identity of the user is not known, a full profile of a member can be made just by using the information stored by from search history. By keeping records of what people query through AOL Search, the company is able to learn a great deal about them without knowing their names. Search engines also are able to retain user information, such as location and time spent using

4719-455: Is sometimes subject to gross misinterpretation. This example further suggests that Google Street View may provide opportunities for privacy infringement and harassment through public dissemination of the photographs. Google Street View does, however, blur or remove photographs of individuals and private property from image frames if the individuals request further blurring and/or removal of the images. This request can be submitted for review through

4840-565: Is tracked and because it is not private, some companies send Internet users spam and advertising on similar products. There are also several governmental organizations that protect an individual's privacy and anonymity on the Internet, to a point. In an article presented by the FTC , in October 2011, a number of pointers were brought to attention that help an individual Internet user avoid possible identity theft and other cyber-attacks. Preventing or limiting

4961-588: Is without explicitly disclosing their name, as these two parameters are unique enough to identify a specific person typically. Other forms of PII may include GPS tracking data used by apps, as the daily commute and routine information can be enough to identify an individual. It has been suggested that the "appeal of online services is to broadcast personal information on purpose." On the other hand, in security expert Bruce Schneier 's essay entitled, "The Value of Privacy", he says, "Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at

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5082-490: The BMI . Finally, as the day drew to a close, the website belonging to the FBI was hit repeatedly before it ultimately succumbed to attacks and acquired a “Tango Down” status. Anonymous claimed that it was "the single largest Internet attack in its history", while it was reported that as many as 27,000 user agents were taking part in the attack. Operation Payback Operation Payback

5203-511: The Department of Justice under USC Title 18, Section 1030. In 2013, Anonymous petitioned the United States government via We the People , demanding that DDoS attacks be recognized as a form of virtual protest similar to Occupy protests . DDoS mitigation usually works on the principle of distribution, which is basically intelligent routing of traffic to avoid congestion and prevent overload at

5324-493: The HTTP-header . Today, many people have digital cameras and post their photographs online. For example, street photography practitioners do so for artistic purposes and social documentary photography practitioners do so to document people in everyday life. The people depicted in these photos might not want them to appear on the Internet. Police arrest photos, considered public record in many jurisdictions, are often posted on

5445-550: The Internet . Internet privacy is a subset of data privacy . Privacy concerns have been articulated from the beginnings of large-scale computer sharing and especially relate to mass surveillance . Privacy can entail either personally identifiable information (PII) or non-PII information such as a site visitor's behavior on a website. PII refers to any information that can be used to identify an individual. For example, age and physical address alone could identify who an individual

5566-670: The Pirate Party UK and United States Pirate Party criticised the attacks. Following the United States diplomatic cables leak in December 2010, the organizers commenced DDoS attacks on websites of banks who had withdrawn banking facilities from WikiLeaks . In 2010, several Bollywood companies hired Aiplex Software to launch DDoS attacks on websites that did not respond to takedown notices . Piracy activists then created Operation Payback in September 2010 in retaliation. The original plan

5687-714: The Pirate Party UK and United States Pirate Party , which in a joint public statement urged the group to "Immediately cease the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks and to instead seek out a legal method to express your frustration and disquiet with the copyright industry, and their perversions of copyright law for personal gain." While acknowledging that the DDoS attacks on credit card and banking web sites serve as political protests, cyber experts said that Operation Payback has not done any long-term damage: most sites are back online, and people are still continuing to use their credit cards to make payments. "This

5808-641: The Swedish Prosecution Authority . On December 8, 2010, a coordinated DDoS attack by Operation Payback brought down both the MasterCard and Visa websites. On December 9, 2010, prior to a sustained DDoS attack on the PayPal website that caused a minor slowdown to its service, PayPal announced on its blog that it would release the frozen funds in the account of the Wau Holland Foundation that

5929-418: The " U.S. Copyright Group " – was evacuated by the police after an emailed bomb threat was received. It's believed the event could be connected to Anonymous. Non-related copyright or law firms sites, such as websheriff.com, were also attacked. These attacks were originally organized through an Internet Relay Chat channel. The attacks also became a popular topic on Twitter . On September 27, 2010,

6050-425: The "report a problem" button that is located on the bottom left-hand side of every image window on Google Street View; however, Google has made attempts to report a problem difficult by disabling the "Why are you reporting the street view" icon. Search engines have the ability to track a user's searches. Personal information can be revealed through searches by the user's computer, account, or IP address being linked to

6171-488: The DDoS attack on the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) unintentionally brought down 8,000 other small websites hosted on the same server. In September 2010, in an attempt to ensure that Portuguese citizens could not access thepiratebay.org , Associação do Comércio Audiovisual de Portugal (ACAPOR) filed a complaint against The Pirate Bay . The complaint was filed with

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6292-638: The General Inspection of Cultural Activities, which is part of the Portuguese Ministry of Culture . According to the movie rental association, The Pirate Bay is directly responsible for about 15 million illegal downloads in Portugal every year. By installing a Pirate Bay block on all ISPs , ACAPOR hoped to decrease the financial damage it claims The Pirate Bay causes. On October 18, 2010, the ACAPOR website

6413-659: The ISPs. ACAPOR claimed that "the business of ISPs is illegal downloading." On October 4, 2010, Operation Payback launched an attack on the Ministry of Sound website and the Gallant Macmillan website. On October 7, 2010, they attacked the website of the Spanish copyright society, sgae.es. As of October 7, 2010, the total downtime for all websites attacked during Operation Payback was 537.55 hours. On October 15, 2010, Copyprotected.com

6534-446: The Internet by online mug shot publishing sites . Some organizations attempt to respond to this privacy-related concern. For example, the 2005 Wikimania conference required that photographers have the prior permission of the people in their pictures, albeit this made it impossible for photographers to practice candid photography , and doing the same in a public place would violate the photographers' free speech rights. Some people wore

6655-594: The Motion Picture Association of America, the United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress, Visa, MasterCard, and Bank of America. They were charged with one count of "conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer" for the events that occurred between September 16, 2010 and January 2, 2011. DDoS attacks are federal offenses in the United States and are prosecuted by

6776-522: The Tor network will actually harm the network itself. However, Anonymous members routinely use proxy servers based in Sweden to launch their attacks. It has been speculated that this is due to the notion that Sweden may have less internet privacy laws than the rest of the world. Primarily, HOIC has been designed as a stress testing tool and can be lawfully used as such to stress test local networks and servers provided

6897-437: The U.S. in 2007, is currently the subject of an ongoing debate about possible infringement on individual privacy. Researchers have argued that Google Street View "facilitate[s] identification and disclosure with more immediacy and less abstraction." The medium through which Street View disseminates information, the photograph, is very immediate in the sense that it can potentially provide direct information and evidence about

7018-412: The aggregate data does not constitute a privacy violation, some people believe that the initial profiling does. Profiling becomes a more contentious privacy issue when data-matching associates the profile of an individual with personally-identifiable information of the individual. This is why Google, the dominant ad platform, that uses cookies to allow marketers to track people has announced plans to "kill

7139-536: The attack on PayPal . On November 9, 2010, Operation Payback temporarily ceased attacking websites. The hiatus lasted about four months, ending with an early March 2011 attack that temporarily took down the website of BMI , a prominent collection society operating on behalf of music publishers. This was followed by the aforementioned second attack on the RIAA website. On December 8, 2010, U.S. politician Sarah Palin announced that her website and personal credit card information were compromised. Palin's team believed

7260-400: The attack was executed by Anonymous, though Anonymous never commented about Palin as a possible target for any attack. Palin's technical team posted a screenshot of a server log file showing the wikileaks.org URL . Visa attacks had been denial of service attacks, but credit card data was not compromised. It is unknown whether Palin's card was compromised as part of a broad attack on Visa or

7381-488: The attacks as "the shot heard round the world —this is Lexington ." On December 13, 2010 Julian Assange called for supporters to protect WikiLeaks and said that "Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and others are instruments of US foreign policy" in a statement that was seen as likely to add cyber attacks being perpetrated by Anonymous in support of WikiLeaks. The following is a list of sites and domains known to have been targeted: Operation Payback's attempt to take down Amazon.com

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7502-509: The business itself, not a third party, can link them to a name and street address. An Alberta court ruled that police can obtain the IP addresses and the names and addresses associated with them without a search warrant; the Calgary, Alberta police found IP addresses that initiated online crimes. The service provider gave police the names and addresses associated with those IP addresses. An HTTP cookie

7623-578: The convenience that users could otherwise lose using the workarounds needed to suppress such details rigorously. On the other hand, some people desire much stronger privacy. In that case, they may try to achieve Internet anonymity to ensure privacy — use of the Internet without giving any third parties the ability to link Internet activities to personally-identifiable information of the Internet user. In order to keep their information private, people need to be careful with what they submit and look at online. When filling out forms and buying merchandise, information

7744-529: The cookie." Governments and organizations may set up honeypot websites – featuring controversial topics – to attract and track unwary people. This constitutes a potential danger for individuals. When some users choose to disable HTTP cookies to reduce privacy risks as noted, new types of client-side storage were invented: since cookies are advertisers' main way of targeting potential customers, and some customers were deleting cookies, some advertisers started to use persistent Flash cookies and zombie cookies . In

7865-458: The damage. HOIC was the first tool of its kind to have support for the so-called "booster files", configurable VBscript modules that randomize the HTTP headers of attacking computers, allowing thousands upon thousands of highly randomized combinations for user agents. Apart from allowing user agents to implement some form of randomization countermeasures the booster files can and have been used to increase

7986-601: The details of 8,000 Sky customers and 400 Plusnet customers accused of infringing the copyright on music by sharing it on peer-to-peer networks . This alleged breach of the Data Protection Act has become part of the ongoing investigation into ACS:Law by the Information Commissioner's Office . On September 30, the Leesburg, Virginia office of Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver law firm – also doing business as

8107-451: The distributed denial-of-service attacks against MasterCard and PayPal. The boy was an IRC operator under the nickname of Jeroenz0r. On December 10, 2010, The Daily Telegraph reported that Anonymous had threatened to disrupt British government websites if Assange were extradited to Sweden. Anonymous issued a press release in an attempt to clarify the issue. Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow described

8228-450: The following day. During the 2010 MIPCOM convention, Gene Simmons of KISS stated: Make sure your brand is protected ... Make sure there are no incursions. Be litigious. Sue everybody. Take their homes, their cars. Don't let anybody cross that line. In response to Simmons' comments, members of Operation Payback switched their attentions to his two websites, SimmonsRecords.com and GeneSimmons.com , taking them both offline for

8349-490: The following for its users: (1) the privacy policy would become shorter and easier to comprehend and (2) the information that users provide would be used in more ways than it is presently being used. The goal of Google is to make users' experiences better than they currently are. This new privacy policy came into effect on March 1, 2012. Peter Fleischer, the Global Privacy Counselor for Google, has explained that if

8470-547: The following two days, Operation Payback attacked a multitude of sites affiliated with the MPAA, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and British Phonographic Industry . Law firms such as ACS:Law , Davenport Lyons and Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver (of the US Copyright Group ) were also attacked. On September 21, 2010, the website of United Kingdom law firm ACS:Law was subjected to

8591-418: The full URL of the actually visited website. In addition to the referrer URL, further information may be transmitted by the use of other request methods such as HTTP POST . Since 2018 Mozilla partially mitigates the risk of third-party requests by cutting the referrer information when using the private browsing mode. However, personal information may still be revealed to the requested address in other areas of

8712-430: The functionality of many websites. All significant web browsers have this disabling ability built-in, with no external program required. As an alternative, users may frequently delete any stored cookies. Some browsers (such as Mozilla Firefox and Opera ) offer the option to clear cookies automatically whenever the user closes the browser. A third option involves allowing cookies in general but preventing their abuse. There

8833-621: The group set up a new website with the intention of coordinating protests around the world to raise awareness of their cause. The date for the protest activities were on November 5, the intended day of the Gunpowder Plot , with which Anonymous heavily affiliates through its use of Guy Fawkes masks. The protest activity included an attack on the United States Copyright Office , after which the FBI launched an investigation. They later arrested one person accused of taking part in

8954-482: The increased merging of online and offline identities. The researchers have also developed an 'augmented reality' mobile app that can display personal data over a person's image captured on a smartphone screen. Since these technologies are widely available, users' future identities may become exposed to anyone with a smartphone and an Internet connection. Researchers believe this could force a reconsideration of future attitudes to privacy. Google Street View , released in

9075-404: The inspiration for the graphics on the software's GUI and website. Simply described, HOIC is a program for sending HTTP POST and GET requests at a computer under attack, that uses a lulz -inspired graphical interface . HOIC primarily performs a denial-of-service (DoS) attack and a DDoS attack when co-ordinated by multiple individuals. The denial-of-service (DoS) attack on the target URL

9196-465: The law. And, as stated in my MIPCOM speech, we will sue their pants off. First, they will be punished. Second, they might find their little butts in jail, right next to someone who's been there for years and is looking for a new girl friend. We will soon be printing their names and pictures. We will find you. You cannot hide. Stay tuned This led to additional attacks and subsequently more downtime for his websites. Later, Simmons's message

9317-401: The legality of both Facebook, against respective privacy acts, in 2010. The new privacy policy only heightens unresolved concerns regarding user privacy. An additional feature of concern to the new Google privacy policy is the nature of the policy. One must accept the policy or delete existing Google accounts. Customizing the privacy settings of a social network is a key tactic that many feel

9438-537: The magnitude of the attack. HOIC and its predecessor, the LOIC , are named after an ion cannon , a fictional directed-energy weapon described as firing beams of ions from a space-based platform onto Earth-based targets. Although ion cannons appear in many movies, television shows, and video games that have a science fiction-based setting, the ones depicted in the Command & Conquer series of video games are considered to be

9559-406: The members received a plea deal, reducing their felony charges to a single misdemeanor. The defendants were penalized with jail sentences, and one defendant with community service. Internet privacy Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storage, re-purposing, provision to third parties, and display of information pertaining to oneself via

9680-475: The most common ways of theft is hackers taking one's username and password that a cookie saves. While many sites are free, they sell their space to advertisers. These ads, which are personalized to one's likes, can sometimes freeze one's computer or cause annoyance. Cookies are mostly harmless except for third-party cookies. These cookies are not made by the website itself but by web banner advertising companies. These third-party cookies are dangerous because they take

9801-627: The name, address, and other information to the IP address. There are opposing views in different jurisdiction on whether an IP address is personal information. The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled they need to be treated as personally identifiable information if the website tracking them, or a third party like a service provider knows the name or street address of the IP address holder, which would be true for static IP addresses, not for dynamic addresses. California regulations say IP addresses need to be treated as personal information if

9922-633: The originating entity. Some organizations engage in the profiling of people's web browsing, collecting the URLs of sites visited. The resulting profiles can potentially link with information that personally identifies the individual who did the browsing. Some web-oriented marketing-research organizations may use this practice legitimately, for example: in order to construct profiles of "typical Internet users". Such profiles, which describe average trends of large groups of Internet users rather than of actual individuals, can then prove useful for market analysis . Although

10043-971: The particular user they are being displayed to, as well as to personalise content displayed to the user on social media sites. In 1998, the Federal Trade Commission considered the lack of privacy for children on the Internet and created the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), limiting options obtaining personal information of children and stipulating requirement for privacy policies . Apart from corporate data collection, on-line privacy threats also include criminal and fraudulent activity . This category includes shortened links on many social media platforms leading to potentially harmful websites, scam e-mails and e-mail attachments that persuade users to install malware or disclose personal information. On online piracy sites, threats include malicious software being presented as legitimate content. When using

10164-464: The perpetrator's computer but hackers can usually easily get rid of these. The advantage to Evercookies is that they resist deletion and can rebuild themselves. There is controversy over where the line should be drawn on the use of this technology. Cookies store unique identifiers on a person's computer that are used to predict what one wants. Many advertisement companies want to use this technology to track what their customers are looking at online. This

10285-544: The person initiating the test has authorization to test and as long as no other networks, servers, clients, networking equipment or URLs are disrupted. HOIC can also be used to perform distributed denial-of-service attacks, which are illegal under various statutes. The Police and Justice Act 2006 of the United Kingdom amended the Computer Misuse Act 1990 , and specifically outlawed denial-of-service attacks and set

10406-569: The possible detrimental effects of Internet cookies: a recent study has shown that 58% of users have deleted cookies from their computer at least once, and that 39% of users delete cookies from their computer every month. Since cookies are advertisers' main way of targeting potential customers, and some customers are deleting cookies, some advertisers started to use persistent Flash cookies and zombie cookies , but modern browsers and anti-malware software can now block or detect and remove such cookies. The original developers of cookies intended that only

10527-513: The record companies might total in the "trillions"; the report estimated $ 75 trillion in its attention-grabbing headline (USA's nominal GDP in 2012-2013 was about $ 16–17 trillion). This figure was repeated in PC Magazine on March 23. An Operation Payback call-to-arms followed, citing the $ 75 trillion figure as if it were still being actively sought by the RIAA, and a DDoS attack on the RIAA website commenced on March 25. Around October 28, 2010,

10648-418: The right to disclose member information or share photos with companies, lawyers, courts, government entities, etc. if they feel it is absolutely necessary. The policy also informs users that profile pictures are mainly to help friends connect to each other. However, these, as well as other pictures, can allow other people to invade a person's privacy by finding out information that can be used to track and locate

10769-592: The rise of the Internet, it became clear that governments, companies, and other organizations would need to abide by new rules to protect individuals' privacy. With the rise of the Internet and mobile networks, Internet privacy is a daily concern for users . People with only a casual concern for Internet privacy do not need to achieve total anonymity . Internet users may protect their privacy through controlled disclosure of personal information. The revelation of IP addresses , non-personally-identifiable profiling , and similar information might become acceptable trade-offs for

10890-405: The same information that regular cookies do, such as browsing habits and frequently visited websites, but then they share this information with other companies. Cookies are often associated with pop-up windows because these windows are often, but not always, tailored to a person's preferences. These windows are an irritation because the close button may be strategically hidden in an unlikely part of

11011-598: The same target twice. On October 29, riaa.org indeed was taken offline via denial-of-service attack . After the attack, riaa.com and riaa.org sites were inaccessible in Europe. Operation Payback's main site was attacked later that day, and they subsequently moved their website from tieve.tk to anonops.net . During the damages phase of the LimeWire trial, the RIAA attempted to switch from seeking statutory damages per-work to seeking them per-infringement, but did not quote

11132-469: The same way as normal cookies and are used by the Adobe Flash Player to store information on the user's computer. They exhibit a similar privacy risk as normal cookies, but are not as easily blocked, meaning that the option in most browsers to not accept cookies does not affect Flash cookies. One way to view and control them is with browser extensions or add-ons. Flash cookies are unlike HTTP cookies in

11253-535: The same website and help evade some defense filters. The attack is then launched by pressing the red button in the GUI labelled as "Fire Teh Lazer". The basic limitation of HOIC is that it requires a coordinated group of users to ensure that the attacks are successful. Even though it has allowed attacks to be launched by far fewer users than the older Low Orbit Ion Cannon, HOIC still requires a minimum of 50 users to launch an effective attack and more are required to sustain it if

11374-527: The screen. In the worst cases, these pop-up ads can take over the screen and while one tries to close them, they can take one to another unwanted website. Cookies are seen so negatively because they are not understood and go unnoticed while someone is simply surfing the Internet. The idea that every move one makes while on the Internet is being watched, would frighten most users. Some users choose to disable cookies in their web browsers. Such an action can reduce some privacy risks but may severely limit or prevent

11495-410: The search engine, for up to ninety days. Most search engine operators use the data to get a sense of which needs must be met in certain areas of their field. People working in the legal field are also allowed to use information collected from these search engine websites. The Google search engine is given as an example of a search engine that retains the information entered for a period of three-fourths of

11616-498: The search terms used. Search engines have claimed a necessity to retain such information in order to provide better services, protect against security pressure, and protect against fraud. A search engine takes all of its users and assigns each one a specific ID number. Search engines often keep records of users' Internet activity and sites visited. AOL's system is one example. AOL has a database of 21 million members, each with their own specific ID number. The way that AOL's search engine

11737-487: The sense that they are not transferred from the client back to the server. Web browsers read and write these cookies and can track any data by web usage. Although browsers such as Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3 have added a "Privacy Browsing" setting, they still allow Flash cookies to track the user and operate fully. However, the Flash player browser plugin can be disabled or uninstalled, and Flash cookies can be disabled on

11858-458: The service of Google separate. The update to Google's privacy policy has alarmed both public and private sectors. The European Union has asked Google to delay the onset of the new privacy policy in order to ensure that it does not violate E.U. law. This move is in accordance with objections to decreasing online privacy raised in other foreign nations where surveillance is more heavily scrutinized. Canada and Germany have both held investigations into

11979-441: The sharing of data from multiple sources. Because this policy gathers all information and data searched from multiple engines when logged into Google, and uses it to help assist users, privacy becomes an important element. Public officials and Google account users are worried about online safety because of all this information being gathered from multiple sources. Some users do not like the overlapping privacy policy, wishing to keep

12100-584: The social networking profile to be connected to browsing habits. In the past, websites have not generally made the user explicitly aware of the storing of cookies, however, tracking cookies and especially third-party tracking cookies are commonly used as ways to compile long-term records of individuals' browsing histories — a privacy concern that prompted European and US lawmakers to take action in 2011. Cookies can also have implications for computer forensics . In past years, most computer users were not completely aware of cookies, but users have become conscious of

12221-405: The success of the candidate. Since personalised advertisements are more efficient, and thus more profitable, than non-personalised ones, online advertising providers often collect (or facilitate the collection of) user data such as browsing and search history, shopping patterns and social media behaviour. This data can then be automatically processed to display ads more likely to be successful with

12342-405: The target website has protection. Another limiting factor is the lack of anonymizing and randomizing capability. Even though HOIC should, in theory, offer anonymizing through the use of booster files, the actual protection provided is not enough. Furthermore, anonymizing networks such as Tor are not capable of handling the bandwidth of attacks generated by HOIC. Any attempt to launch an attack using

12463-408: The terms of service, and privacy policies of particular services offered online. This can include comments written on blogs, pictures, and websites, such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) . Once it is posted, anyone can potentially find it and access it. Some employers may research potential employees by searching online for the details of their online behaviors, possibly affecting the outcome of

12584-407: The time Facebook gets to taking down the photo, many people will have already had the chance to view, share, or distribute it. Furthermore, traditional tort law does not protect people who are captured by a photograph in public because this is not counted as an invasion of privacy. The extensive Facebook privacy policy covers these concerns and much more. For example, the policy states that they reserve

12705-439: The time of surveillance ." Internet and digital privacy are viewed differently from traditional expectations of privacy. Internet privacy is primarily concerned with protecting user information. Law Professor Jerry Kang explains that the term privacy expresses space, decision, and information. In terms of space, individuals have an expectation that their physical spaces (e.g. homes, cars) not be intruded. Information privacy

12826-506: The tool makes it user friendly and easy to control. The basic routine of an attack is to input the URL of the website which is to be attacked, and set the power option on low, medium or high. The power option sets the request velocity with low at two requests per second, medium at four and high at eight requests per second. Then a booster file is added which uses .hoic extension to define dynamic request attributes, launch attacks on multiple pages within

12947-419: The type of resource loaded, such requests may enable third parties to execute a device fingerprint or place any other kind of marketing tag . Irrespective of the intention, such requests do often disclose information that may be sensitive, and they can be used for tracking either directly or in combination with other personally identifiable information . Most of the requests disclose referrer details that reveal

13068-426: The usage of Social Security numbers online, being wary and respectful of emails including spam messages , being mindful of personal financial details, creating and managing strong passwords, and intelligent web-browsing behaviours are recommended, among others. Posting things on the Internet can be harmful or expose people to malicious attacks. Some information posted on the Internet persists for decades, depending on

13189-432: The user has removed any of the types of cookies in question, it recreates them using each mechanism available. Evercookies are a type of zombie cookie. However, modern browsers and anti-malware software can now block or detect and remove such cookies. Some anti-fraud companies have realized the potential of Evercookies to protect against and catch cyber criminals. These companies already hide small files in several places on

13310-465: The user is by having a ranking system that tests relevancy that includes observation of the behavior users exude while searching on Google. Another function of search engines is the predictability of location. Search engines are able to predict where one's location is currently by locating IP Addresses and geographical locations. Google had publicly stated on January 24, 2012, that its privacy policy would once again be altered. This new policy would change

13431-483: The user's machine (e.g., Flash Local Shared Objects, various HTML5 storage mechanisms, window.name caching, etc.), and resurrecting copies that are missing or expired. Evercookie accomplishes this by storing the cookie data in several types of storage mechanisms that are available on the local browser. It has the ability to store cookies in over ten types of storage mechanisms so that once they are on one's computer they will never be gone. Additionally, if Evercookie has found

13552-590: The website of the US Department of Justice . As the DOJ website went offline Anonymous claimed success via twitter, saying "One thing is certain: EXPECT US! #Megaupload". Over the course of the next few hours, several other websites were knocked offline and kept offline. These included websites belonging to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) , the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and

13673-632: The website that originally distributed cookies to users could retrieve them, therefore returning only data already possessed by the website. However, in practice, programmers can circumvent this restriction. Possible consequences include: Cookies do have benefits. One is that for websites that one frequently visits that require a password, cookies may allow a user to not have to sign in every time. A cookie can also track one's preferences to show them websites that might interest them. Cookies make more websites free to use without any type of payment. Some of these benefits are also seen as negative. For example, one of

13794-511: Was SQL injected and defaced, and three days later Operation Payback launched a DDoS attack against the UK Intellectual Property Office . Production companies SatelFilm.at and Wega-Film.at were hit by "drive-by" DDoSes on October 21, 2010, in response to their efforts to gain a court injunction against an ISP that refused to block a movie-streaming website, Operation Payback then knocked porn website Hustler.com offline

13915-482: Was defaced , presenting text from Operation Payback and a redirect to The Pirate Bay after a few seconds. In addition to defacing the website, a copy of the email database of ACAPOR was uploaded to The Pirate Bay. The leaked e-mails so far revealed ACAPOR's methods of denunciation, its dissatisfaction with the Portuguese government and justice system, its perception of the copyright debate as war, and its antagonism with

14036-524: Was a coordinated, decentralized group of attacks on high-profile opponents of Internet piracy by Internet activists using the " Anonymous " moniker. Operation Payback started as retaliation to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on torrent sites; piracy proponents then decided to launch DDoS attacks on piracy opponents. The initial reaction snowballed into a wave of attacks on major pro-copyright and anti-piracy organizations, law firms, and individuals. The Motion Picture Association of America ,

14157-539: Was aborted after they failed to recruit enough users to their botnet; CNN noted that the massive Amazon website "is almost impossible to crash." In late December, the FBI began to raid suspected participants in Operation Payback. At the beginning of 2011, Operation Payback brought down Zimbabwean government websites after the Zimbabwean President's wife sued a newspaper for $ 15 million for publishing

14278-457: Was raising funds for WikiLeaks, but would not reactivate the account. Regarding the attacks, WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson denied any relation to the group and said, "We neither condemn nor applaud these attacks. We believe they are a reflection of public opinion on the actions of the targets." On the same day, a 16-year-old boy was arrested in The Hague , Netherlands , in connection with

14399-690: Was removed and its official Twitter account was suspended. Additionally a federal court order forced Encyclopedia Dramatica to delete its Operation Payback article, which featured a detailed history of the operation, including personal information of some individuals associated with the companies attacked. In July 2011, 14 members of Operation Avenge Assange were arrested. In October 2013, 13 members of Operation Payback were indicted in Federal court in Alexandria, Virginia as co-conspirators in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 18 U.S.C. § 1030 . In 2014, some of

14520-444: Was removed from his website. More than one year later, in December 2011, a person supposedly known under the nickname "spydr101" was arrested in relation to the attack against GeneSimmons.com. He was charged with conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer. On October 26, 2010, LimeWire was ordered to disable the "searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and/or file distribution functionality" after losing

14641-506: Was to attack Aiplex Software directly, but upon finding some hours before the planned DDoS that another individual had taken down the firm's website on their own, Operation Payback moved to launching attacks against the websites of copyright stringent organisations Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry , giving the two websites a combined total downtime of 30 hours. In

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