Computers, Spies And Private Lives


DESCRIPTION:
SUBJECT: Computer Science, Sociology, Technology
SERIES: Nova
PRODUCTION COMPANY: WGBH
PRODUCTION DATE: 1981
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States of America
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE: English
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Commentary: James Whitmore
Direction: Linda Harrar
Direction: Theodore Bogosian
Production: Donna Rice
Production: John Mansfield
Script: Linda Harrar
Script: Theodore Bogosian
SUMMARY: This film examines the effects that widespread computer use is having on the most fundamental of all civil rights, privacy. The issue is becoming more crucial as computers go into mass distribution, as they have in France. There, terminals in every household and the use of a "smart" card, with which people do banking, shopping etc. and which contains private and health information, will revolutionize our way of life. But as soon as such information is handed over, it can be abused. Many credit bureaus have incorrect information which may adversely affect many lives.

In 1974, the United States passed the Privacy Act, which allowed citizens the right to search all their records and change incorrect information. Nevertheless, some people were refused access to their records. FBI investigations which included bugging, wiretapping, and threats have come to light. With the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the activities of the National Security Agency, any communications can be surveyed, and diplomatic codes broken. Since computer information goes out over telephone lines, it can easily be tapped as well.

The sale of mailing lists has become a large industry. Magazines and other organizations sell their mailing lists, much to the benefit of political organizations. Without the use of mailing lists and computer direct mail systems, the New Right in the United States would never have achieved the clout it did, according to one of its spokesmen. Similar to this are telephone broadcasting systems either selling products or collecting payments. These have a psychological power over a client, as she or he is committed to tape. Terrorist groups such as France's Direct Action fear this tendency and aim to destroy computers altogether.

With large datacentres, such as those used in banks, security becomes a major problem. Information can be tapped at many sources, particularly by people inside the organization. Citibank uses a system of codes and double-checking, but Amerifirst is the only American bank to use an encryption system, which scrambles transmissions. These are encrypted and decrypted using DES mathematical algorithms and two keys.

College systems are prone to computer vandalism as well. A young student explains to officials at a university how he deduced their access code, obtained their assembly programs, and had the capability to bring their system down altogether.

The single-key encryption system (DES) and the more manageable two-key system (RSA), which has cyphers and supercyphers, are explained.

An official of the NSA explains that the agency is trying to limit cryptographic studies which might improve computer security and privacy as they threatened national security. The film concludes that the protection of privacy is extremely important in the computer age.

SOME DETAILS:

President Richard Nixon, privacy at risk 1974: Many things are necessary to ________, but none of these is more important than the most basic of all indivudual rights,

the right to privacy

and no time in the past has the government known so much about so many of its indivudual citizens. Government birocracy _____ the crime on collecting additional information. That information is now stored on over 7,000 gevernment computers, and the names on over 150,000,000 Americans are now in computer banks scathered across the country. In short, data banks affect nearly every man, woman and child in the USA. Here is the _______ to that. The system that fails to respect its citizen's rights to privacy, fails to respect the citizens themselves. Careers have been ruined, marriages have been wracked, reputations that ________ the real life time have been destroyed, by the missuse or obuse of data technology in both private and public hands. Advanced technology as a mean? new opportunities for America as a mation, but it has also created the possibility for new obuses of the indivuduals, the American citizens. Advocate, safe-guards must always stand watched so that the man always remains the master and newer becomes the victim of the computer.

Paul Armer (Charles Babbage Institute): Possibly the computer, bacuase it can do things much cheaper than we can do in the past, let us do things that we could not afford to do. Many of this things have great social values. We would not go back to dealing with airlines that did not have computerized reservation systems, the incredible convenience for the passinger. So there are great advantages, but as we tend to computerize more and more information about individual, as we get closer in time to 1984, then it is possible to get more towards Orwell's 1984.

French pilot project: Sea Mealow daring experiment to land every Franch household into computer age. Every French household to laonch? free of charge computer terminals provided by the state run telephone company

telematic (mariage of telephone with the computer) To put the computer in the hands of people in their homes - locating telephone members (replace telephone book) Future - electronic mail - computerized shopping - electronic banking - and to host to other computerized info networks.

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Government experts predict that mass computerization will take hold and become indespensible to society as electricity. And so France is plugging in the future with the policy committment to socializing the computer.

Low manufacturing cost ... computers smaller and cheaper

1951 10 feet cube, 71.000 USD now silicon chip 4 by 4 mm 19 USD.

Never the government of the western World had known so much about their citizens.

Half a century ago Hitler;s gestapo rounded 60 mil. Jews around Europe.

In Sept. 1980 the Council of Europe signed the treaty of rules protecting privacy of computerized personal data.

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In the NY office of the City Bank ...

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Smart Cards, spiping and banking, healt card replacing booklet

Card can be loaded with a credit in a bank and then debited at a point of sale.

carrying a personal file in a pocket and make sure to not be used without your agreement.

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One credit reposting? company tested a sample and found 1/3 of its information is incorrect. Individuals do, however have a right to inspect their credit file. The biggest record keeper of them all is the federal government. At last count these were 5800 personal data banks holding on average 18 files on about 3 billion people.

Congrational concern over the increased use of computers in the federal recod keeping let to signing of the privacy act in 1974. This act provides that each individual has the right to find the federal record keeping files on them, what is in those files and the right to correct those files. The listing of federal file systems is published yearly, but the federal Register.?? To get to see all your files you must write 58.000 separate letters.

Joane Baez

Martin Luther King - mice

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Nothing to hide

Foreign

NSA, 20 years ahead of private industry.

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17:50 junk mail (commerce of selling and buying mailing lists).

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20:00 Paul

I personally fell that when an organization ______ given my name for a specific reason seals my name and address to somebody else, that is an invasion of my privacy. They have told to someone else something about me that I am interested in a special kind of product, for example. Bacause of this concerne with organization saling my name 7 years ago I adopted a practise of coding my name when I give it to someone else ...

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Spies are breaking into the tel. system....

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City Bank and authenticity

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Paul: KGB vs. financial

Blake Greenvile

DES

a key makes the key safe...

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Chicago's de Paul Univ. break? the College comp. system - payrole, marks 1/2 hour for 3 letter password

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NSA Sandia Lab. - sym. keys and public keys

if you posses one key, you cannot deduce the other one.

- Rivest, Shamir and Adleman, primes

- boxes

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NSA and science