Written by  Michael Ridley

 

Dr. Ann Cavoukian, the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner, is very impressive. She is passionate, articulate, engaging, and very challenging. Challenging because her primary message, privacy = freedom, is compelling and yet also very difficult math.

At a recent meeting of CIOs like me from the public sector (government, universities, hospitals, etc.), Dr. Cavoukian spoke about the importance of privacy and her mission to make privacy protection the default.

Technology and privacy have made strange bedfellows for some time. Technology has emerged with only a limited focus on privacy; it’s an afterthought, an add-on when something hits the fan. Facebook, one of the culprits that recently improved its ways, was actually better than many at providing privacy controls. This only tells you how low the bar has been set.

Cavoukian wants privacy protection baked in from the start. The initiative is called “Privacy by Design.” It means that we don’t patch things up after the damage has occurred; we build it in from the beginning. Her excellent website is packed with good documentation on this.

Of course, it’s not just the technology that needs to be reformed. It’s you as well.

We value our privacy, and yet we are so quick to give it away. After all, telling Amazon about yourself has real benefits. Amazon recommends books to me because it tracks my purchases, browsing, and the browsing of others. I discover books I otherwise wouldn’t find. Same with iTunes and Google. Cool new app on Facebook? Sure, it can have access to my personal info – which also gives it access to my friends and perhaps some of their info too. Yikes. Not sure that’s what I meant to do. Sorry to all my peeps out there; hope you don’t mind this intrusion in your personal life.

We are moving into interesting territory where privacy issues are going to be amplified even more.

The convergence of Twitter, mobile phones, GPS, etc. has lead to services like Foursquare and others that allow you to release where you are and for others to do the same. These geolocation tools are a cool idea. My friends turn out to be nearby; we can discover this and meet up for a drink. Cool idea? My significant other thought I was in Denver at a meeting but she now knows I’m in NYC for some (possibly nefarious) reason. Cool idea?? The police are tracking me because I was at some demonstration a few weeks ago and they aren’t too sure about me. Let’s see where I go.

But geolocation on smartphones is just the tip of the iceberg. Sensors are soon going to start showing up in everything. Network aware sensors (ones that can transmit and receive over the Internet) are going to be embedded in objects like books, coffee mugs, clothing, whatever. How these sensors are used, who determines what information is transmitted, retained, reused or sold is very much the wild west of this technology.

However, protection has limits. Cavoukian is not a fan of anonymity; she is a fan of pseudonymity. The identity of the former is untraceable and unaccountable where the latter is not public but ultimately knowable. Protecting your identity is OK; concealing it is not. Privacy cannot be used as a mask to allow irresponsible action; privacy cannot be protection for libel, harassment, hacking, or other criminal actions.

Using pseudonymous avatars in social networking or other online services is likely to become even more popular. Rather than me, a representation of me that has my characteristics but is not easily traced back to me will allow my avatar to obtain and provide the benefits of sharing info but will not expose me personally. One could have many avatars; they could have different characteristics depending on their objective. People are multifaceted, why not their digital representations as well?

Cavoukian’s message is simple privacy = freedom. It’s also simple to achieve: privacy by default + privacy by design.

 

Michael Ridley is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Librarian at the University of Guelph. Contact him at mridley@uoguelph.ca or www.uoguelph.ca/cio.

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