Black Code: Inside the Battle for Cyberspace by Ronald J. Deibert Read Free Book Online

Nmap to scan networks and map the computers connected to them, which ports are open on those computers, what operating systems are used, et cetera. With Wireshark and Nmap employed together, we can precisely map the computers and devices logged onto a network (including all known vulnerabilities on those computers and devices), and collect much of what is being communicated by the people using those computers. All of this information can be collected – without the users ever noticing – by someone connecting to the same network a few metres down the hall using a few freely available open-source tools. Examples like these show how the multiplying access points into cyberspace can create unintentional vulnerabilities that may expose us to security and privacy risks.
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    We take cyberspace for granted. We assume that its basic modus operandi – uninterrupted connectivity to a shared communications environment – is always stable. That assumption is wrong.Cyberspace is a highly dynamic ecosystem whose underlying contours are in constant flux. One of the most important recent changes has come about with the gradual movement away from searching the World Wide Web to a “push” environment where information is delivered to us instead, mostly through applications and services. A major impetus behind this shift has been the popularity of mobile devices, especially the Apple iPhone. Web browsers are functionally constrained by the smaller screens and other limitations of mobile devices, which has led to the popularity of applications that deliver specially tailored information to users instead. So, whereas in the past we might have visited the
New York Times
website via our browser, today a growing number of us download the
Times
app instead, signing off on another terms of service licence agreement in the process, and sharing with yet another third party a potentially far greater amount of personal data connected to our mobile phone. Of course, what can be “pushed out” can also be “pulled back” by companies, or turned off at the request of governments. Apple’s iPhone, for instance, has a built-in remote “wipe” functionality that can permanently disable or erase the device and all of its apps.
    When we communicate through cyberspace, our data is entrusted to the companies that own and operate the hardware, the applications and services, and the broad infrastructure through which our communications are transmitted and stored. These companies are the intermediaries of our Internet experiences, and what they do with our data can matter for how we experience cyberspace, and what we are permitted to do through it. They are critical agents in determining the rules of the road by virtue of the standards they insist upon, the operating decisions they take, and the constraints they impose on users. This is especially important as the volume of data they control becomes ever greater, ever more potentially lucrative in the global information economy.
    The end-user licence agreements, terms of service, and other warranties we sign with these companies define what they can do with our data. Unfortunately, few users bother to read, let alone understand, them. It is hard not to be sympathetic. Unless one has an advanced legal degree, these documents are intimidating: tens of thousands of words in fine print, with exceptions and caveats that provide enormously wide latitude for what companies can do. Faced with this word-soup, most of us just click “I agree.” What we are agreeing to might surprise us. Skype users, for instance, might be alarmed to find out that when they click on “I agree” to the terms of service they are assigning to Skype the right to change these terms at any time, at Skype’s discretion, and without notice. Skype does not inform users about whether and under what conditions it will share user data with law enforcement or other government agencies. Users might not know that while they