The Cost of Free Web Tools

  • Authors:
  • Edward Sobiesk;Gregory Conti

  • Affiliations:
  • US Military Academy;US Military Academy

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Security and Privacy
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

Free Web-based services aren't really free: users pay for them with micropayments of information that add up to a very significant sum. Indeed, it can be quite eye-opening to find out how much we reveal about ourselves and our companies through the seemingly innocuous words we use to search and the maps we view on the Internet. In today's era of customized advertising, we see a trend toward automated mining and correlating of our data disclosures, which has a host of ethical implications. Clearly, no single solution will solve all the challenges--not least because future tools and services will raise new issues that need further attention--but anticipating and working through the challenges before they become crises would benefit all parties.