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PRIVACYnotes Digest Protecting Privacy is Good for Business
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Published by: Mike Banks Valentine PRIVACYnotes
privacy@website101.com
www.privacynotes.com
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March 14, 2002 Issue # 001
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.....IN THIS DIGEST.....
// -- MODERATOR COMMENT -- //
"Welcome to PRIVACYnotes!
Moderator Introduction" ~ Mike Banks Valentine
// -- NEW DISCUSSION -- //
"Super Snooper"
~ Mike Banks Valentine
// -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- //
"Ubiquitous Computing and Privacy"
~ Mike Banks Valentine
"Spam and Privacy"
~ Mike Banks Valentine
"Privacy Issues Weighty Ecommerce Concern"
~ Mike Banks Valentine
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// -- MODERATOR COMMENT -- //
I'm very excited to have the honor of being chosen to moderate
discussion on a topic I've been following with interest for over two
years online and off. I expect to see some rather vehement and
heated opinions voiced in this forum because I've watched otherwise
level-headed discussions turn rather boistrous when privacy issues
come up in conversations of internet industry marketing or security
veterans.
An innocent comment on spam can cause unimaginable eruptions of
heated emotions at a internet professional gathering. Vast hotel
ballrooms overflow at web conferences to hear panel discussions on
IT infrastructure security issues since September 11, 2001.
Databases of customer information have been fought over in dot com
bankruptcies while accidental exposures of private information is
unwittingly made public by simple human error handling email soft-
ware. Privacy issues made DoubleClick famous overnight.
I watched two episodes of the popular network television show "Law
and Order" just this month that dealt with innocent death due to a
hacker killing diabetics in one show and a stalker accessing private
information purchased from datamining profiteers to kill an innocent
in another show. Privacy issues have made it to Prime Time on 60
Minutes repeatedly, from identity theft to facial re- cognition
software to airport security matters.
I expect no shortage of topics and know how easy it is to fan the
flame if it flickers on this touchy matter. It's gonna be a blast!
I'll start things off with a couple of my own articles on Privacy
with a capital "P" and taunt you with a touchy subject before we
wrap up with a recent Privacy poll by Harris Interactive.
Your Moderator, Mike Banks Valentine
// -- NEW DISCUSSION -- //
===> TOPIC: SUPER SNOOPER
Super Snooper
by Mike Banks Valentine
You've heard enough about Big Brother to last a lifetime, so I've
renamed him Super Snooper to spare you the cliche during this
discussion.
Super Snooper, (Big Brother), is using terrorism as an excuse to spy
on everyone, scan their irises, print their fingers, record their
movements and assign threat levels to each and every one of us. The
latest announcement from the airline industry tells us of the
testing of a huge new database full of facial recognition files,
credit card activity records, airline seating charts, travel
histories, driver licenses, social security numbers, bank records,
employment records and any other "relevant" information they might
deem necessary in efforts to track terrorists.
The computer all this information is stored on is capable of noting
who you sit near on the plane and if you know anyone else on the
passenger list. It knows if you've been sleeping. It knows if you're
awake. It knows if you've been bad or good. So be good for goodness
sakes! Super Snooper knows all-in the name of security and safety. I
hope everything it knows is, not only true, but unfailingly correct
in the conclusions drawn from everything stored in those really deep
data piles.
Snooper sniffs the slightest whiff of smelly actions and, using
predictive behavior models, assigns a threat level to you and me and
dear old Auntie Mabel. Well, that's O.K. with me! It's all in our
best interest, right? Security and safety are more important than
protecting privacy, right? Right?!
Lest you think I'm exaggerating, hop over to the Washington Post
story from January 31, at the link below and review it for yourself.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5185-2002Jan31.html">
It's not just terrorism that is putting security in the news
headlines and privacy on the backburner. Last month Microsoft
announced the appointment of a new Security Czar who takes the helm
as their top privacy protector on April Fools Day. Scott Charney is
a former Department of Justice Cybercrime cop who calls the top
security job at Microsoft, "Irresistable."
That characterization of his new job is no doubt due to the horrible
security breaches built into Microsoft's products and he relishes
the challenge of plugging all those many gaping holes while seeking
reassurance of the public and developers being urged to adopt the
Net passport platform.
For my part, I wish him well and hope he succeeds on a grand scale
since security of Microsoft products is critical if they gain even
the smallest adoption of the .Net Passport system that requires
registration of all MSN products users - as it is built in to the
latest iteration of Windows, Explorer, Outlook Express and required
of each of the MSN web services such as hotmail, bCentral small
business services and each of their web portals.
I predict, without hesitation, that individual privacy and
enterprise network security will be the blockbuster issues of
computing and the web in the coming year. Super Snooper is, like it
or not, going to be snooping and sniffing you, your grandmother,
your kids, your neighbor, your friends, your enemies and all our
biometrics to compare all that information to profiles of known
terrorists. I know, I know, you're very harmless and sweet and
innocent and honest and true.
It's those bad guys I'm worried about, so you don't mind if we
profile you, right? We won't attach any of that information to your
Net Passport, your medical records or your tax files. We won't
sniff and snoop YOUR private information and add it to the database
-- unless of course we find a reason to do so.
Really! We promise! Super Snooper is only after
terrorists. Nobody is interested in all that information we have
on you. Bet'cha it's totally secure too (on Microsoft IIS server
soft- ware that is completely patched and impervious to hackers
or criminals or even that cybergeek who lives next door.) I know
that because Microsoft has a new Security Czar who starts his
irresistable job on April Fools Day!
// -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- //
===> TOPIC: UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING AND PRIVACY
Even though I'm new to privacy discussion list moderation, I've been
discussing those concerns for two years with web-centric colleagues
and writing articles in online publications. Here's an article I
wrote discussing tiny technology and the potential effect on privacy
to watch for with the advent of ubiquitous computing.
Honey, I Shrunk the Chip! Gulliver Meets Big Brother
http://www.website101.com/arch/archive122.html
~ Mike
===> TOPIC: SPAM AND PRIVACY?
Anyone ready to wade into Spam & Privacy? It always comes up.
Introduce yourself and wade in, the water's really hot!
Comment? mailto:privacy@website101.com
===> TOPIC: PRIVACY ISSUES WEIGHTY ECOMMERCE CONCERN.
Privacy has been a growing topic of concern among the US public
since 11 September. Harris found that 91% of US consumers say they
would be more likely to do business with a company that verified its
privacy practices with a third party.
<http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/ecommerce_b2c/20020222_harris.html>
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Mike Banks Valentine is a champion of the true small online business.
He advocates a do-it-yourself approach to e-commerce through online
learning for the small office, home office (SOHO) or emerging entrepreneur
who lacks major venture capital funding or corporate marketing budgets.