Abstract :
This research focuses on the evolving area of risks to individual privacy and draws on a pioneering study to discuss these risks of online use of the web and how development of the web has changed this. Much of the focus is on the exponential rise in numbers of people on Social Networking sites and how easily individual privacy can be risked while in use of these Social Networking sites. This research also focuses on the practices of social networking in order to uncover the subtle connections between online opportunity and risk. Furthermore, it discusses the risks of Phishing and Pharming, two malicious methods of obtaining personal information on unsuspecting web users, and how individual privacy can be corrupted by these two methods.
The question we need to ask ourselves first is: What is privacy?
In an 1890 paper, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis defined privacy as “the right to be let alone.”[1]
In a seminal paper published in 1967, Alan Westin defined privacy as “the desire of people to choose freely under what circumstances and to what extent they will expose themselves, their attitude and their behavior to others.” [2]
More recently, Ferdinand Schoeman defined privacy as the “right to determine what (personal) information is communicated to others” or “the control an individual has over information about himself or herself.” [3]
Two major factors contribute to the privacy problem on the Web:
• the inherently open, nondeterministic nature of the Web
• the complex, leakage-prone information flow of many Web-based transactions that involve the transfer of sensitive, personal information. [4]
An article known as MoneyWatch, posted by CBSNews online states that
‘As technology evolves, so too do the risks that accompany them. A few years ago, the biggest tech risks included viruses and identity theft. These days, our move