The legality of online Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

L’utilisation d’Internet prend beaucoup d’ampleur depuis quelques années et le commerce électronique connaît une hausse considérable. Nous pouvons présentement acheter facilement via Internet sans quitter notre domicile et avons accès à d’innombrables sources d’information. Cependant, la navigation sur Internet permet également la création de bases de données détaillées décrivant les habitudes de chaque utilisateur, informations ensuite utilisées par des tiers afin de cerner le profil de leur clientèle cible, ce qui inquiète plusieurs intervenants. Les informations concernant un individu peuvent être récoltées par l’interception de données transactionnelles, par l’espionnage en ligne, ainsi que par l’enregistrement d’adresses IP. Afin de résoudre les problèmes de vie privée et de s’assurer que les commerçants respectent la législation applicable en la matière, ainsi que les exigences mises de l’avant par la Commission européenne, plusieurs entreprises comme Zero-knowledge Systems Inc. et Anonymizer.com offrent des logiciels permettant la protection de la vie privée en ligne (privacy-enhancing technologies ou PETs). Ces programmes utilisent le cryptage d’information, une méthode rendant les données illisibles pour tous à l’exception du destinataire. L’objectif de la technologie utilisée a été de créer des systèmes mathématiques rigoureux pouvant empêcher la découverte de l’identité de l’auteur même par le plus déterminé des pirates, diminuant ainsi les risques de vol d’information ou la divulgation accidentelle de données confidentielles. Malgré le fait que ces logiciels de protection de la vie privée permettent un plus grand respect des Directives européennes en la matière, une analyse plus approfondie du sujet témoigne du fait que ces technologies pourraient être contraires aux lois concernant le cryptage en droit canadien, américain et français.The use of the Internet has spread widely in the past few years and commerce on the World Wide Web has boomed. We are now able to buy products easily from home over the Internet and have access to all kinds of information sources. The well-known concern is that browsing the Internet has created detailed databases describing each user's browsing patterns and that third parties are now able to assemble comprehensive profiles about online users. Information about the user is gathered through the collection of transactional data, Internet tracking, and tracking IP addresses. In order to solve privacy problems and make sure companies are obligated to comply with privacy laws, or more specifically with the standards established by the European Commission, many companies, like Zero-knowledge Systems Inc. and Anonymizer.com, are marketing privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) in order to protect and assure the privacy of the individual in the digital world. These privacy-enhancing technologies use a method called encryption, which scrambles the data, making it illegible to everyone except the intended recipient. The goal has been to create mathematically rigorous systems that will prevent even the most determined attackers from discovering the user's identity, therefore significantly reducing the risk of data theft or accidental leaks of sensitive information from the Internet user’s computer. While these online privacy software do help to protect the privacy of the Internet users in making sure that data collectors comply with the European Privacy Directives, a further analysis may determine that they are illegal according to Canadian, American or French encryption control laws and regulations

Patina : layering a history-of-use on digital objects

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-59).by Ansel Arjan Schütte.S.M

Exploring the relationship between social network sites and the consumption of cultural goods through the lens of affordances

This thesis presents research theorising the use of social network sites (SNS) for the consumption of cultural goods. SNS are Internet-based applications that enable people to connect, interact, discover, and share user-generated content. They have transformed communication practices and are facilitating users to present their identity online through the disclosure of information on a profile. SNS are especially effective for propagating content far and wide within a network of connections. Cultural goods constitute hedonic experiential goods with cultural, artistic, and entertainment value, such as music, books, films, and fashion. Their consumption is culturally dependant and they have unique characteristics that distinguish them from utilitarian products. The way in which users express their identity on SNS is through the sharing of cultural interests and tastes. This makes cultural good consumption vulnerable to the exchange of content and ideas that occurs across an expansive network of connections within these social systems. This study proposes the lens of affordances to theorise the use of social network sites for the consumption of cultural goods. Qualitative case study research using two phases of data collection is proposed in the application of affordances to the research topic. The interaction between task, technology, and user characteristics is investigated by examining each characteristic in detail, before investigating the actual interaction between the user and the artifact for a particular purpose. The study contributes to knowledge by (i) improving our understanding of the affordances of social network sites for the consumption of cultural goods, (ii) demonstrating the role of task, technology and user characteristics in mediating user behaviour for user-artifact interactions, (iii) explaining the technical features and user activities important to the process of consuming cultural goods using social network sites, and (iv) theorising the consumption of cultural goods using SNS by presenting a theoretical research model which identifies empirical indicators of model constructs and maps out affordance dependencies and hierarchies. The study also provides a systematic research process for applying the concept of affordances to the study of system use

More-than-Store: Expanding the Experience of Retail Phenomenon

Architecture is an important part of modern retail environments. Architectural design affect customers’ experiences, feelings, memories, and ultimately their decisions. This research focuses on retail design in order to understand the connection between architecture, customer experience, and brand identity. The intention is to explore how architecture affects our experience of retail spaces. The first phase of this study was to understand the Apple Phenomenon, which refers to a paradigm shift, occurred in contemporary retail stores’ design. Apple Phenomenon was used as a point of departure to formulate a new design-thinking approach that can transform the traditional approach to retailing. The research results revealed that rather than focusing on offered products or services in a retail environment, retailers with the help of architects can focus on customers’ experiential desires (i.e. Sense, Feel, Think, Act, and Relate) and program-driven environmental experience formation and value co-creation. In the light of Apple phenomenon, the concept of ‘more-than-store’ was introduced as an alternative approach to retail design and then three alternative designs were proposed to exemplify this concept. This design thinking approach addresses key concerns in retail planning and design in order to (a) overcome commoditization problems, (b) improve differentiation strategies, and (c) narrow the gaps between conventional retail planning and real customer desires

A Genealogy of Consumer Surveillance: From the First Public Market to Eatons Department Store to Amazon

Consumer surveillance has intensified over time and across differing forms of consumption space and spatial arrangement, which in turn raises the question of what explains the historical changes in the modalities of consumer surveillance. Contemporary surveillance literatures focus primarily on the current phenomenon with little consideration of the historical processes upon which the changes in the scope and intensity of the modalities of consumer surveillance were made possible. My study employs Foucauldian genealogical methodology as a system of inquiry to map the historical transformation in the modalities of consumer surveillance, by utilizing archival records, across three different consumption spaces in key stages of retail development: the first regulatory public market in the Town of York during the pre-industrial period, Eatons department store in the industrial economy, and Amazon that coincided with the rise of information economy. Conversely, contemporary theories of surveillance generally approach the intensification question by focusing on the surveillance-space axis or surveillance-consumption axis, and the spatiality of consumer surveillance is reduced to Foucauldian disciplinary panopticon. Utilizing Foucaults theories of power and governmentality and his intriguing account of the role of space in the exercise of power, my genealogical project examines the intersection of surveillance-space-consumption to understand the intensification of consumer surveillance over time across the three spaces under study. In my genealogical project, I identify five key moments pertaining to differing modalities of consumer surveillance: marketization of space, standardization of consuming bodies, statistification of consumers, virtualization of consumption, and AI inhabitation in consumer spaces. My genealogical project demonstrates that spatiality and spatialization are a recurring issue in differing modalities of consumer surveillance over time. Yet, the spatial techniques have changed and become more complex to augment the scope and intensity of monitoring and gaining of new knowledge about consumers and consumption, as part of long-standing efforts to manage the unpredictable dynamics of consumer behaviour by attaining control over all aspects of consumers life