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Kripa Raman

The Net is full of lethal temptations to undermine users' privacy. Software that promises to prevent spying may actually be spying for and against you. Make your moves in cyberspace with care, don't leave tell-tale tracks.

CORPORATES and other organisations may increasingly restrict their employees' access to the Net, and even cyber cafes could become extremely demanding and picky as it becomes apparent that the Net is one of the most dangerous places in matters concerning privacy.

Unsolicited e-mailers offering every kind of dubious product and service in the world are today sent at random — their senders' identity very often hidden although a vague sender's address is as good as a hidden one.

For example, many in India have been recipients of an e-mailer that has been doing the rounds offering `Internet Detective 5.0'. The offer calls the product `The Internet's best Selling Spy Software...'

It costs just $30, payable by credit card. The software, claims the site, helps one research, "vital statistics, find people who have changed their name, e-mail address or phone, resources for finding adoptees and birth parents, society security look-ups, military databases...''. It also helps "create a map showing directions right to a person's door.''

More lethal offers include "how to send anonymous e-mail, illegal drug archives, track anyone's newsgroup postings, surf anonymously on the Net, FBI's most wanted, illegal software piracy sites, anarchist sites (loads of information files), criminal databases, virus creation/prevention sites, sources for underground books and information'' and even help in finding bank account information.

Another software on offer through these suspicious channels is commonly referred to as Big Brother. This claims to be an Internet safety monitoring software whose description suggests that it is clearly more for unethical spying purposes than for any monitoring ones. This software, claims the offer, can hide on your computer and not show in the START menu; it will secretly track all instant messages, chat, e-mails and Web sites and help one spy on spouses, children and others.

Software experts say they are not sure whether Indians do buy such software or not. "It is technically possible for them to buy it. But whether they will stick their necks out to risk giving out their credit card number, that we do not know,'' says the head of Internet security with a software security firm.

But it is not necessary to go to the Net for this, he says. If one has enough contacts abroad, it is quite possible to get such software over and we have enough cases of spying and hacking happening here.

"What these Internet mailers indicate is that such products are present and on offer, one need not feel safe only because one thinks Indians are unlikely to place an order for something that costs in dollars.''

Another Internet software expert tells of how every time he opens an e-mail account, it gets broken into. "No imported software is required for this, we have enough `experts' here to do the hacking. I know that this is happening out of office, so I have now opened e-mail addresses under names that have no relation to mine, and it has so far worked well for me. Determined techies or even tinkerers can do anything. The Net is perhaps the most unreliable medium when it comes to protection of one's privacy.''

Another offer, and a common enough one for ages now, going the rounds is that of e-mail addresses. "A million new e-mail addresses to market your product or service anywhere in the world,'' says one of them, saying it can offer any e-mail address on the planet.

Easy access, seamless world ... all these features come at a cost, says an official in charge of Internet-related matters with a software company.

The more free you are, the more likely you are to bump into something; the more restricted your movement becomes, the more sure you can be of not getting yourself into trouble.

Corporates and other organisations that offer Net access to a mass of people are going to get more and more finicky. And even at home, since one sits at a particular computer and can be tracked down more easily, the user is going to have to get more and more circumscribed about his movement.

kripram@thehindu.co.in

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