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Throughout this coming year, there will be a raging debate on the subject of security (the requirement to maintain national security) versus the need for balancing the privacy rights of individuals while enabling the gathering of intelligence data. In most instances, that which is stated, printed or dispersed electronically will consist largely of political discourse rather than well-conceived solutions to this ongoing dilemma.
Since little or no differentiation is likely to surface regarding potential and real privacy compromises, and concern over private citizens’ rights violations will become prominent news, it is important that this subject be discussed in an informed manner. Let’s begin by identifying some of the commonly used services where present technology affords the possibility that your personal privacy may become compromised or violated:
E-mail service
Who provides such service? And are you aware of the complete visibility of your e-mail history to this service, its employees and those who might seek such information (legally or otherwise)? Are your “deleted” items literally deleted from the e-mail server that provides such service? Are contents and/or attachments encrypted? Does your e-mail go directly from you to your service provider and then directly to the intended recipient, or is another intermediary involved to afford you security?
Instant messaging
Is this a fully encrypted service? If not, your service provider (free, for fee, employer, etc.) has unfettered access to every message string you send and receive. It may retain some with or without your knowledge or permission. Are you “discussing” any matter of a highly sensitive or confidential nature that, if revealed or disseminated, would cause embarrassment or irreparable harm to you or your employer, family or government? If your IM service is in-house, that may limit your employer’s or agency’s exposure, but likely affords you no personal privacy protection whatsoever.
Collaborative platforms
This would include electronic meetings by computer, telephone or PDA. Again, is this a fully encrypted service? Are all components (i.e. audio, video, documents, files, IM, etc.) encrypted)? If encrypted, is this encryption performed on your own personal desktop, laptop, PDA or your mobile phone? If anyone other than you or your intended collaborative partner(s) has custody of your voice, image, document, presentation, spreadsheet, or pictures in unencrypted form, then the opportunity for your privacy to become compromised is unlimited.
E-commerce & E-government platforms
Banking, credit card transactions, drivers’ licenses, voter registration, social security, health care and medical records, real property, all judicial matters, and many other forms of personal information are now all readily available to anyone that has a will to retrieve such data. We are not talking about restricting your most private and personal information to only those with specific permission expressly granted by you, or even those entities with a specific need and right to have access to such data. We are talking about anyone who can easily obtain such personal material by learning the basics of data mining or engaging professional service firms that sell such access to anyone with the means to pay for it. Moreover, even if all such data were unavailable to anyone, the custodial organizations that you have entrusted with your private data, either explicitly or otherwise, have had their secure databases and servers continuously violated despite the enormous amount of protection designed and implemented to prevent such loss.
Last year, those reported losses were higher than ever (in excess of $130 billion), and that figure is expected to climb further in 2006. These losses do not account for a single penny of damages resulting from the financial or personal invasion of privacy incurred by individuals.
As you will note, the possibility for violation of your privacy is real, and it is even more egregious when one considers that these compromises can occur through no fault of your own. Even if you have never availed yourself of any electronic service -- except the telephone -- you may still find that highly compromising information relating to your health history (hospital, doctor and pharmacy records), spending habits (if you use credit cards), banking transactions, property records and court proceedings have been stored electronically and that you are unwittingly relying on all of these possessors of your data to protect you.
The present debate in the headlines is all about privacy, and the need to violate such privacy in order to protect a nation. It certainly is a rational argument, and one that will fuel this debate. Given the potential compromise of your privacy, consider this question. If personal records really belong to you, why is it that you are never consulted when decisions are made to make this compromise?
On that note, we will save the next segment of this discussion for next month when we will address how such permissions can be obtained and how possessors of data can take the necessary steps to effectively and proactively protect your privacy.
About the Author
Ronald I. Koenig is the president and Chief Executive Officer of VIACK Corp. He has more than 40 years of software design, development, sales and senior management expertise.
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