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RE: Privacy

TravisDBA — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:00:19 GMT

One of my favorite quotes on privacy is by Scott G. McNealy, the CEO of Sun Microsystems Inc.:"You already have zero privacy. Get over it." :-D

RE: Privacy

Jeff Moden — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:12:05 GMT

BWAAA-HAAA!!!! And then we have those people that post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and who knows what else, that they'll be making a week long trip to go on a vacation and then wonder why their house was ransacked while they were gone.[quote]I don't know how things may evolve over time, but I do suspect that privacy and data handling will become more of a part of data professionals' jobs in the future.[/quote]I know it's not a part of a lot of data professionals' jobs but I've always regarded a person's information as being private even before the Privacy Act of 1976. That notwithstanding, it's a real tough thing for me to understand why some companies say they need my SSN. They say it's for a credit check yet when I call them up for help, they always ask for the "last 4 digits" of my SSN. Sure, there's ways around that but holy moly. I think people have greatly over extended what "For security and tax purposes only - not for identification" (written on SSN cards) actually means. It's only come to mean that you can't use the card as a form of identification.Folks talk about some of the great strides we've taken with PCI and the like but despite the great effort there, it does little to ensure actual "privacy". I'm not sure that such a thing actually exists anymore.

RE: Privacy

cdonlan 18448 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:34:13 GMT

[quote][b]Steve Jones - SSC Editor (9/6/2012)[/b][hr][quote][b]cdonlan 18448 (9/6/2012)[/b][hr]Defense.[url]https://www.torproject.org/[/url]I played around with the Vidalia component a few years back (a little clunky but what do you expect?) and think it's a fascinating project. Others may find it so as well.Editor: hotlinked URL[/quote]I've seen similar things, but they were cumbersome. I worry about the delays and connectivity issues, but perhaps a larger distributed network would solve some of that.[/quote]It's seems to be more of an arms race then anything else. Those who want to be invisible on the grid and those who want to see everything (governments come to mind) will be in a perpetual struggle, but I don't see legal frameworks being particularly effective because I don't believe they can be adequately enforced or enacted fast enough to keep up with the technology.

RE: Privacy

TravisDBA — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:07:22 GMT

[quote][b]mike.broniszewski (9/6/2012)[/b][hr] That being said, mailboxes and banks can be robbed, you wallet/phone can be stolen and your car/house broken into. You have personal information in all those places and they are less secure and open to more people for theft than most databases.Time to get back to loving my data :-D.[/quote]Excellent point. :-D

RE: Privacy

Bronzo — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 10:04:05 GMT

I have to disagree with most every comment I read here. There have been many good strides in data protection laws at least in North America over the last 10 year (PCI compliance for example). Every company I have worked for over the last decade have put a great deal of resources into ensuring the data is protected not only from the outside world but from inside the business as well. It obviously takes time and nothing will ever be perfect because as our protection gets better hackers get better. That being said, mailboxes and banks can be robbed, you wallet/phone can be stolen and your car/house broken into. You have personal information in all those places and they are less secure and open to more people for theft than most databases.Time to get back to loving my data :-D.

RE: Privacy

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:16:20 GMT

[quote][b]cdonlan 18448 (9/6/2012)[/b][hr]Defense.[url]https://www.torproject.org/[/url]I played around with the Vidalia component a few years back (a little clunky but what do you expect?) and think it's a fascinating project. Others may find it so as well.Editor: hotlinked URL[/quote]I've seen similar things, but they were cumbersome. I worry about the delays and connectivity issues, but perhaps a larger distributed network would solve some of that.

RE: Privacy

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:13:57 GMT

[quote][b]Sigerson (9/6/2012)[/b][hr]I don't see good outcomes in the future for our privacy concerns. The use of the web is so financially compelling for corporations that they *must* use it to stay competitive. At the same time, our online privacy and data security are both dwindling by the minute. Part of this is due to corporate disregard, and part is due to many users' own carefree broadcasting of private information. On my worst days, I suspect the Internet may have no more than 2-3 years before the concept of [i]data privacy[/i] will be no more than a quaint historical footnote.As a vocabulary aside--and I say this only because your phrasing is usually so elegant--your choice of flaunt in [i]more companies in general are ignoring, flaunting[/i] seemed to clink a little. I'll bet (online!) you meant to use the word [i]flout: to treat with contemptuous disregard[/i]?[/quote]Yep. Must have been thinking of something else because I do know the difference between the words. Ugh, stupid spell check couldn't determine my meaning there. ;-)I think you are probably right in us not getting good outcomes for privacy in the short term. At least not without some strong shake-ups in the way our officials govern.

RE: Privacy

cdonlan 18448 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 07:56:05 GMT

Defense.[url]https://www.torproject.org/[/url]I played around with the Vidalia component a few years back (a little clunky but what do you expect?) and think it's a fascinating project. Others may find it so as well.Editor: hotlinked URL

RE: Privacy

Sigerson — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 07:01:08 GMT

I don't see good outcomes in the future for our privacy concerns. The use of the web is so financially compelling for corporations that they *must* use it to stay competitive. At the same time, our online privacy and data security are both dwindling by the minute. Part of this is due to corporate disregard, and part is due to many users' own carefree broadcasting of private information. On my worst days, I suspect the Internet may have no more than 2-3 years before the concept of [i]data privacy[/i] will be no more than a quaint historical footnote.As a vocabulary aside--and I say this only because your phrasing is usually so elegant--your choice of flaunt in [i]more companies in general are ignoring, flaunting[/i] seemed to clink a little. I'll bet (online!) you meant to use the word [i]flout: to treat with contemptuous disregard[/i]?

RE: Privacy

Tobar — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 05:05:06 GMT

How will it evolve over time? One word. Badly.On the optimistic side, we all have the power to improve our corner of the world and to be open to making changes when the need arises.

Privacy

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:06:04 GMT

Comments posted to this topic are about the item [B]Privacy[/B]