US Congressman writes to Amazon with Silk privacy concerns

[woo me with science]

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2117654/congress-writes-amazon-silk-privacy-concerns

US Congressman writes to Amazon with Silk privacy concerns
Dear Mr Bezos, about this browser of yours
By Dave Neal
Mon Oct 17 2011, 13:17

CONCERNS ABOUT PRIVACY have lead a US congressman (Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey) to write to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about the company's Silk web browser for Kindle e-readers.
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The Silk browser serves up web pages from the cloud, meaning that the user is distanced from it and its data, and the fact that Amazon also keeps information about its shoppers combines with this into a headache for privacy advocates and Markey, who has demanded answers.
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"By coupling the Fire with Silk, Amazon can essentially track every Web click of its customers. Amazon will know where people shop, what items they buy, when they buy them and how much they pay."
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"Consumers may buy the new Kindle Fire to read '1984', but they may not realize that the tablet's 'Big Browser' may watching their every keystroke when they are online," said the congressman in a statement.

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[RKP5637]

1. Sadly the internet was not initially designed with a whole lot of stealth privacy in mind. IMO

many developers back then really did not envision the extent to which privacy invasion would occur. Many initially thought 64-bit encryption, for example, would suffice. Frankly, I never realized how many cheats, etc., etc. there were until the Internet progressed into the public domain. And now, it's a corp. business to gather info. and invade privacy.

We need to move to a stealth Internet, but gov. will want a back door. ... it reminds me of the early encryption days ...

[FarCenter]

4. Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act

By law there must be a capability in all networks to intercept communications for use by law enforcement.

You are free to use end to end encryption with your correspondents. But there is a little problem of key management for that. Who do you trust?

[RKP5637]

5. "Who do you trust?" You know, I have no idea anymore. n/t

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Does anyone actually believe

that a strictly-online company like Amazon would develop and distribute a web browser without possessing ulterior motives. This is the first I've heard of Silk, but I would avoid it like poison!

[FarCenter]

7. Silk is a pretty good idea

A web page may actually be composed in your browser, e.g. Chrome,IE, Firefox, by accessing a dozen or two different pieces of information from various servers, e.g. the body text from one place, a few images from a few more, a few adds from yet additional locations, etc. Each of these causes the setup of a TCP session with a server and a subsequent HTTP transaction to fetch the information.

With silk, you just do one TCP/HTTP transaction with the Amazon server. The server fetches and composes the web page components for you. Any components that don't vary with time do not have to be fetched, but will be served from cache in the Amazon server.

So the transactions are fast, especially on low bandwidth connections, and you don't use up your bandwidth quota as quickly.

[Shagbark Hickory]

3. Amazon already knows a great deal about why I buy since a great deal of what I buy comes from Amazon

So far I haven't noticed any black helicopters swirling overhead but if anyone is looking at that stuff they're probably pretty amused by the assortment of items.

[In Other News]

6. Kick...

Rec.....

[lazarus]

8. anyone who thinks

their behaviour on the internet is private is living in a dream world.

So this doesn't bother me at all.