Features

• Privacy in an Age of Terabytes and Terror

  Introduction to SciAm's issue on Privacy. Our jittery state since 9/11, coupled with the Internet revolution, is shifting the boundaries between public interest and "the right to be let alone"

  Peter Brown   | September 1, 2008  | 3

• How Loss of Privacy May Mean Loss of Security

  Many issues posing as questions of privacy can turn out to be matters of security, health policy, insurance or self-presentation. It is useful to clarify those issues before focusing on privacy itself

  Esther Dyson   | September 1, 2008  | 2

• Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy?

  Young people share the most intimate details of personal life on social-networking Web sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, portending a realignment of the public and the private

  Daniel J. Solove   | September 1, 2008  | 11

• Beyond Fingerprinting: Is Biometrics the Best Bet for Fighting Identity Theft?

  Security systems based on anatomical and behavioral characteristics may offer the best defense against identity theft

  Anil K. Jain and Sharath Pankanti   | September 1, 2008  | 4

• Tougher Laws Needed to Protect Your Genetic Privacy

  In spite of recent legislation, tougher laws are needed to prevent insurers and employers from discriminating on the basis of genetic tests

  Mark A. Rothstein   | September 1, 2008  | 3

• Data Fusion: The Ups and Downs of All-Encompassing Digital Profiles

  Mashing everyone's personal data, from credit card bills to cell phone logs, into one all-encompassing digital dossier is the stuff of an Orwellian nightmare. But it is not as easy as most people assume

  Simson L. Garfinkel   | September 1, 2008  | 1

• Cryptography: How to Keep Your Secrets Safe

  A versatile assortment of computational techniques can protect the privacy of your information and online activities to essentially any degree and nuance you desire

  Anna Lysyanskaya   | September 1, 2008  | 2

• Digital Surveillance: Tools of the Spy Trade

  Night-vision cameras, biometric sensors and other gadgets already give snoops access to private spaces. Coming soon: palm-size "bug-bots"

  Steven Ashley   | September 1, 2008  | 2

• How RFID Tags Could Be Used to Track Unsuspecting People

  A privacy activist argues that the devices pose new security risks to those who carry them, often unwittingly

  Katherine Albrecht   | September 1, 2008  | 44

• Internet Eavesdropping: A Brave New World of Wiretapping

  As telephone conversations have moved to the Internet, so have those who want to listen in. But the technology needed to do so would entail a dangerous expansion of the government's surveillance powers

  Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau   | September 1, 2008  | 10

• Industry Roundtable: Experts Discuss Improving Online Security

  Experts from Sun, Adobe, Microsoft and MacAfee discuss how to protect against more numerous and sophisticated attacks by hackers; security professionals call for upgraded technology, along with more attention to human and legal factors

  September 1, 2008  | 2