Digital ID Coach

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Take Back Your Self

January 7th, 2009

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On my Identities Overview page, I talk about the different forms of identities that we have. One of those forms is a digital you: the email and online accounts that you have, the mailing lists and databases that you’re part of. In reality, much of this identity reaches into our other identity forms, such as our economic profile and our citizenship.

Renowned security expert Bruce Schneier wrote an essay last May 15, 2008, called Our Data, Ourselves. In it he pointed out that:

Who controls our data controls our lives.

It’s true. Whoever controls our data can decide whether we can get a bank loan, on an airplane or into a country. Or what sort of discount we get from a merchant, or even how we’re treated by customer support. A potential employer can, illegally in the U.S., examine our medical data and decide whether or not to offer us a job. The police can mine our data and decide whether or not we’re a terrorist risk. If a criminal can get hold of enough of our data, he can open credit cards in our names, siphon money out of our investment accounts, even sell our property. Identity theft is the ultimate proof that control of our data means control of our life.

We need to take back our data.

Our data is a part of us. It’s intimate and personal, and we have basic rights to it. It should be protected from unwanted touch.

Schneier calls for the passage of a comprehensive data privacy law with real penalties for violations. I’m all for this, and given our new administration’s commitment to expanding broadband in America, it’s time to start talking about this now.

Coaching Moment: Recently many people on Twitter were stung by a series of “click here” phishing attempts to take over their accounts. One third-party company collected many twitter usernames and passwords while offering a momentarily helpful service, but then turned around and sold his database for a reported $1200. On a higher but related level, financial identity theft is (still) on the rise.

I hope you have not been a victim. Chances are increasing that you will be. What concerns you the most about losing your privacy or control over your digital destiny? I’d love to know.

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future, records, tools America, bank loan, broadband, Bruce Schneier, corporate practices, data privacy law, digital identity, policy, privacy, protection, United States

U.S., Canadian firms: worlds apart on Privacy (2004)

May 24th, 2004

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Lemme see… customer loyalty or legislative compliance. As a business, which would I choose? Seems Canadian firms go with the former, while U.S. firms prefer the latter. Do the same people that make this decision also wonder why the American “consumer” market doesn’t trust many of the companies they do business with?

The study, the first to compare the corporate privacy practices of comparable Canadian and U.S. firms, found that Canadian businesses see their privacy practices as an opportunity to improve relations with customers, while their U.S. counterparts viewed privacy measures more as a way of complying with legislation and avoiding civil lawsuits.

Indeed, 61 per cent of surveyed Canadian companies linked ‘good privacy practices’ to customer trust and brand loyalty, compared to only 17 per cent of U.S. companies.

‘Canadian privacy leaders seem to understand and respect the need for compliance with federal and provincial laws,’ states the study, which was commissioned by the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner.

‘However, they rarely see compliance as the single goal or mission of privacy management (and) are more likely to hold the view or belief that their role is inextricably tied to information ethics rather than obedience to the law.’

Coaching moment: Privacy and self-determination go hand in hand. The question is NOT whether you have something to hide. It’s whether you have something to lose.

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history Canada, compliance, corporate practices, customer relations, ethics, law, policy, privacy, United States

USACM’s take on Total Info Awareness (2003)

January 25th, 2003

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Perhaps you’ve heard of TIA: the Department of Defense’s Total Information Awareness, a plan to gather all available information, from database everywhere, about every person in the U.S., ostensibly to counter “terrorism through prevention.” Heh. More like “government as a terrorist organization” these days, against their own citizenry.

The USACM, the public policy group of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM, a member-based professional organization), has written a great letter with an offer to help:

Because of serious security, privacy, economic, and personal risks associated with the development of a vast database surveillance system, we recommend a rigorous, independent review of these aspects of TIA. Such a review should include an examination of the technical feasibility and practical reality of the entire program. USACM would be pleased to assist in such an effort.

A good outline of why we should be worried about this Orwellian plan.

Coaching moment: Sometimes the government is doing the surveillance. Once it starts, it’s hard to go back. Note that this article was from 2003. What do you think the government knows about you? Can you correct information if it is wrong? Why might you want to?

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history Association for Computing Machinery, databases, Department of Defense, DOD, government, policy, public policy group, security, surveillance, terrorism, TIA, United States, USACM

They will track you down like the lowly… (2003)

January 24th, 2003

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A lot of coverage on the court’s order that Verizon to hand over a subscriber’s name–someone who had made some music files available over a file sharing network. I like Wired’s coverage:

“The court should not open the door for anyone who makes a mere allegation of copyright infringement to gain complete access to private subscriber information without due process of law,” said Mike Lamb, AT&T’s chief privacy officer, in a statement.

“The statute at issue requires ISPs to disclose the identity of subscribers expeditiously in response to a subpoena issued by a court clerk,” he added. “Such extraordinary disclosure obligations should be construed narrowly to afford subscribers the opportunity to challenge the requested disclosure.” …

“This is not a debate about privacy, it’s about piracy and the 2.6 billion illegal downloads each month,” the spokesman said. “To suggest that an Internet user’s privacy is more at risk because of this decision is a red herring. Verizon never argued it in the case and there is no First Amendment protection for committing a federal crime.”

Framing the debate as privacy vs. piracy helps illustrate that it’s all about who’s in control.

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