The darker side of the Internet

By pandu

The Associated Press is reporting about a hacker Max Ray Butler, who has been indicted on several counts for hacking, stealing and selling credit card information from financial institutions like the Pentagon Credit Union, Citibank, etc. Max Butler goes by the online alias “Iceman”. He also operated an online forum on buying and selling stolen credit cards. Apparently he would check into hotel rooms and then using high powered antenna would connect to nearby wireless networks. He would then launch his attacks from those wireless networks.

These kinds of crimes are becoming increasingly common and apparently even the Russian mafia has gotten involved in this business. (Imagine a hacker working for the mafia!) Unfortunately, online theft is not the only way the Internet is being abused. Hate groups, terrorists and the global sex trafficking industry are all using the Internet to their benefit. Another unfortunate outcome is that abuses like this are giving governments around the world a reason to increase surveillance and intrude on individual privacy.

On the one hand, we are prone to attacks from these fringe elements. And on the other hand we are giving up personal privacy for extra protection. Its a LOSE-LOSE situation for the average Internet user. This opens up a new kind of opportunity for a service that provides a high level of online protection without compromising our privacy. A sort of footprint eraser, if you will. It will require not only technical innovations but new paradigms in archiving (how long should companies keep records of online transactions?), online security (SSL that secures and deletes traces after completion of transactions), and legal framework. Some of this work has already started. While abuses like the above story are unfortunate, it adds greater urgency to the work of online privacy and protection.