Computers,Freedom,and,Privacy, DIY Computers Freedom and Privacy

When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in

Last week I attended the Computers, Freedom & Privacy (CFP2002)conference where I heard four days of discussion and debate fromattorneys, corporate leaders, politicians and privacy advocates over issues of civil liberties, privacy and commerce.I've come away from that very enlightening conference with a rather pessimistic conclusion -- That Sun Microsystems CEO ScottMcNealy was correct when he said, "You have zero privacy anyway,"to a group of reporters in January of 1999, but I stop FAR shortof McNealy's suggestion that we should . . . "Get over it." Onthe contrary, I suggest we all consider getting ON it and takinga wild ride to protect what little privacy we have remaining andattempt to regain the ground lost since September 11.The worst thing for privacy from 9/11 beyond the innocent deathswas the call for a national ID card from our good friend LarryEllison and echoed by less enlightened members of congress. Thatconcept was discussed in great detail at the CFP2002 conferenceby Andrew Schulman. I highly recommend you visit the following site for more information on the futility of that idea. Schulmanis a software litigation consultant. Click on the top link under "recent work" for his paper on the so-called border crossingcard with direct relevance to a National ID card.http://www.undoc.comCalifornia State Senator Jackie Speier spoke at the conferenceon her legislation SB773, which seeks dramatic curbs onfinancial institution's efforts to sell private Californians'financial information to other companies. Californians have afighting chance at preserving privacy since we have SenatorSpeier working to pass privacy initiatives in the state senate.But I don't see any serious national privacy advocates withinthe federal government since most listen when money talks beforethey listen to public opinion. Although there is furiousactivity, there is no clear leader on the issue as discussedin the following ComputerWorld article.http://computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO61707,00.htmlThe USA Patriot Act had, at it's heart, national security andprotection from terrorism as clearly laudable goals, but someunintended consequences leeched on to suck away some freedomswhen politicians used emotion above reason to attach someprivacy eroding amendments to it.We do, however have organizations fighting for privacy on thenational level. They are the Electronic Privacy InformationCenter @ http://www.epic.orgConsumer Action @http://www.Consumer-action.org/English/library/privacy_rights/Privacy Rights Clearinghouse @ http://www.privacyrights.org/Jason Catlett's JunkBusters @ http://www.junkbusters.org/Each are working hard to protect the public privacy interest.There were sessions on medical privacy, financial privacy, webanonymity, national ID cards, constitutional freedoms and agripping discussion on the "Digital Divide" from Larry Irving,the technology activist that coined the term. Speaking were ITleaders from healthcare organizations, CEO's and Vice Presidentsfrom major corporations, privacy advocates from respected organ-izations, attorneys and politicians of every stripe.A universal concern among speakers and participants was the lackof consumer and public discourse and education on privacy issues.The public shows nearly universal disregard for intrusions intoprivacy until they are personally threatened with exposure oftheir own private personally identifiable information.One telling example cited was a comment from an audience memberduring a Q and A period following a panel discussion where henoted that convenience is the friend of privacy intrusions. Hestated flatly that the idea that we don't like being targetedis wrong. We love being targeted until we start to realize thatit is happening, then our concern rises dramatically. This inreference to how "cookies" make our web surfing experiencefaster and easier when we are recoginized by sites we've beento before, filling in personal data by referencing the cookiesset on previous visits.It was agreed that it takes a major blunder by business whereprivacy information is violated, sold or mutilated before publicoutcry leads to privacy policy enforcement or action. Last weekwhen YAHOO! changed their privacy policy to allow email, snailmail or even phone calls from it's "partners" there was a smallfuss raised by online privacy advocates. Unfortunately even theTRUSTe seal program went along with YAHOO! on that blunder byapproving the move and allowing continued seal program approval.I hope that Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison is wrong when he says, "Privacy is already gone." The conference was reassuring inthat it became clear that there are advocates for reasoneddiscourse and measured action on most important privacy issues. Article Tags: Computers Freedom, Privacy Advocates