Increased web use puts privacy at risk, warns UN

5 December 2006

The UN has advised that the growing popularity of online activity is leaving more and more web users open to the risk of data fraud.

With an increasing number of popular web destinations, such as social-networking sites, requiring usernames and passwords, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has warned that the common practice of re-using names and combinations should be stopped as soon as possible.

The recommendations, issued as part of the UN agency's end of year internet report, advise businesses and industry overseers to consider alternative identification methods that eliminate the need for excessive numbers of passwords.

"The lack of coordination in identification systems is a source of growing inconvenience to users and needs to be addressed rapidly," the report suggested.

The ITU report comes as the agency itself defended its place in the online regulatory community.

"Security in cyberspace can only be brokered worldwide by ITU because it is the only non-political place in the whole UN system where all the parties are still talking to one another. We're the only one who can talk to everyone," said agency secretary general Hamadoun Touré, speaking at the ITU Telecom World conference.

Category: Miscellaneous