The subject of the Internet and anonymity is a very sticky situation for me because I primarily develop web applications for a living. As a part of my job I have to track users as they enter, navigate and leave specific applications. The level of tracking depends on where the user goes within a website. The basic information that I capture includes the user’s IP address, browser type, operating system, the date/time they entered the site and the URL from which the user was referred to the website. In addition to the custom logging that is placed on the website, web servers also have methods of logging built-in as well. Web server logging allows companies to have a central repository to store all user activity across the entire server. Not to mention that they can also create a central repository that allows multiple servers to store log files in one location. This allows users to be tracked across multiple servers as they browse website located on a specific collection of servers that host multiple websites. All this being said there are methods to attempt to protect your privacy by using proxy servers and increasing your browser security levels, but that will only limit the amount of logging not eliminate it.
I have to agree with Traynor when he states that the PATRIOT Act eviscerates the constitutional protections of anonymous communication on the Internet. Therefore, given the recent passage and implementation of the PATRIOT Act, the constitutional guarantees of the right to anonymity have been severely compromised.
I think that the PATRIOT Act is a direct violation of our first amendment rights because it allows for the government to directly monitor any and all activity on the internet including communications, usage, and transactions that can occur. This opens the door to scrutiny and persecution of individuals who are not in line with the government’s beliefs and actions. If England had this type of monitoring capabilities during the revolutionary war, I believe it would have been almost impossible to succeed from England.
