Better Formats for Privacy Notices: Food Safety labels? Symbols?

Some interesting research has emerged from CyLab at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Two days in Washington DC looking at the future of privacy

The first was a celebration of the tenth anniversary of the founding of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. It was broadcast from the National Press Club of America and featured a panel of distinguished speakers debating "The Future of the Privacy Profession". The celebration also launched a new IAPP publication, "A Call for Agility: The Next-Generation Privacy Professional".

The panellists each drew out different aspects of a surprisingly unified view on what will happen over the next ten years. 

Business input to privacy & security frameworks that deliver: RSA, End to End Trust & the remarks of Microsoft’s Scott Charney

In the last couple of blogs, "EC thinking on privacy definitely on the move…" and "Ahead of the Curve?…", I described renewed official interest in re-thinking privacy frameworks that have been around for some time. The re-think is becoming critical and unavoidable in light of the realities of the online world, new technologies and how people often want to use them.

But business has not been idle either. This includes joint initiatives between officials and leading businesses with an interest in ‘finding a better way’.

EC thinking on privacy definitely on the move…

The European Commission (EC) and its partners hosted a conference on “Trust in the Information Society” in Spain 10-11 February where the winds of change became even more apparent.

This was a conference organised under the huge Framework Program 7 (FP 7) research stream funded by the European Commission. FP 7 has a very impressive research component on ICT Trust and Security Research under its ICT Challenge 1: Pervasive and Trustworthy Network and Service Infrastructures.  

Ahead of the Curve? Recent trans-Atlantic thinking on privacy that sounds familiar

At the risk of mixing metaphors, it seems that there is movement at the station, on both sides of the Atlantic, on the need for new thinking on how best to respect personal information about individuals and manage the risks to which they might be exposed as a consequence of its collection, use and disclosure.

Throughout 2009 as the word was getting around you could hear the horsemen gathering in the distance, now they can be seen gathering on the horizon.   

Cloud Computing Made Simple

Cloud computing has been a popular term for a year or two now, but many of us still don’t know what it is or its implications. To a degree, it is old wine in new bottles (hotmail has been around for over a decade now) but it is also so much more. 

This has led to some pretty slick selling of the concept without being entirely straight forward as to the impact on the interests of all stakeholders. In an article titled “Salesforce.com: Cloud Computing is a game-changer”, Peter Coffee is quoted as saying:

Empowering individuals to control their personal information

Here is a seriously interesting paper that came out of the UK a year ago: “Empowering individuals to control their personal information”.  It is a background paper presented to a conference on “Privacy by Design” which was all about providing a proactive approach to privacy protection.  It was held on 26 November 2008 and hosted by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office in Manchester.

When Less is More

Last week the Sydney Morning Herald published, “When the small print leaves us all at sea”, a very good article by Annette Sampson. It really got me going.

Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin: Leading Privacy Campaigners …

This is not a long blog.  I encourage you to read a longer article & possibly explore further from there.

E-security Awareness: When it comes to Personal Information, it’s Security AND Privacy ‘cos there is no trade-off

The experiences of handling (and losing) personal information have a lot to tell us about better security in any organisation. 

How often have you heard somebody argue that there has to be a trade off between security and privacy?

The argument usually runs something along the lines that in order to keep you secure, you have to give up some aspect of your privacy.  For example, you must exhibit a lot of evidence of identity before completing a transaction or joining a group or organisation.

Top 10 themes from RSA Security Conference as seen by iTnews

For all those Mac fans who think that they are immune from vulnerabilities, think again. 

Swinging pendulums: accountability, the Global Financial Crisis and prosecuting Google in Italy

As the political pendulum swings back towards more regulation of the markets, how do we stop it from swinging too far?

I am a free marketeer.  Within limits.

For over a decade, I worked in Department of Finance as a proud part of the micro-economic reform revolution wrought by the Hawke-Keating governments that contributed so much to economic growth in the subsequent decade.  As a member of the Management Improvement Advisory Committee of the government’s Management Advisory Board, I also led some of the teams introducing world class public management reform, seen by many in the OECD as an exemplar to be followed.