A Little Privacy, Please!

"Hi!

This is Yateen. I got your fax confirming the e-mail about the

voice mail on the subject of our virtual chat that we had after

you paged me. I am dying to show you my scanned engagement pictures.

Why do not we get together for coffee at amazon.com? I tried

your mobile but got it busy hence leaving this message on your

answering machine."

With new

gadgets, expanded ranges, advanced features, and cheaper prices,

the world is shrinking ever more rapidly. Technology is embedding

deeply in our lives and these days our language itself has more

of jargon than other words. Sometimes, I wonder, would I be

able to unplug myself from the global network? Iridium (a global

wireless communications network composed of 66 low-earth-orbit

satellites) is about some serious connectivity. No more hiding

in the corners of the earth''s far reaches, no more dodging the

office, no more personal down time. E-mails, fax, mobile phones,

Net conferences, videoconferences, voice mails, phones, and

pagers-all preventing from getting unplugged. The world of tomorrow

is a world of access, a world of seamless communication, a world

that never stops talking.

Perhaps

being hardwired into the global human collective will propel

us forward to our next evolutionary level. Maybe we will all

come to expect more of each other because of our constant access,

and compel each other to new heights. Or maybe we will just

drive each other nuts. Either way, the world is closing in on

us, and instant access cannot be far away. One number assigned

for life, following you wherever you may go.

Computer

telephony is coming to the Internet with a vengeance. Major

development in this field is supercharging the World Wide Web

(WWW) with computer telephony technology, platform hooks, and

links: Get voice to the customer visiting you on the Internet;

build CT messaging servers and GroupWare apps on the Intranet

paradigm. Also making a small splash is the wacky (yetmarginally

interesting) push of Internet telephony making nearly free (although

sometimes unintelligible) long-distance voice and video calls

on the Net. Many businesses are increasing their competitive

advantage with better customer contact, lower operating costs,

and improved service. WWW technology is a great way to set up

services that empower both customers and employees with greater

freedom to serve themselves quickly and cheaply. It ties in

perfectly with client/server CT automation.

As the world

becomes more and more digital so do we, challenging us to restrict

and control our personal information in cyberspace. Regardless

of whether you like it or even know it, you have already established

a digital identity. That identity is a constantly growing and

shifting amalgam of your personal information, stored in the

database of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), mobile phone

service providers, banks, and more agencies than we can imagine.

That shifting, inchoate digital identity is destined to become

much more "real". It will be sharply defined because

you will construct and control your own digital persona, carrying

it with you, embedded in a card or microchip, at all times.We are already

several generations into the computer era; it is too late to

try to reverse the development of digital identities. The Internet

has accelerated this process by easing the task for others to

aggregate multiple bits of information about you. Your income,

buying habits, reading preferences, opinions expressed in chat

rooms or via e-mail, browser bookmarks-not to mention financial

data from banks, mortgage companies, and credit card issuers-your

addresses, e-mails on the web, digital cards-all this and more

is available in digital format.

As we head

into the new millennium privacy is no longer the right of every

person "to be let alone". It is not even the ability

to withhold personal information. In years to come very few

would forego a home mortgage rather than fill out a loan application.

Very few would refuse medical treatment rather than divulge

their social security numbers to insurance providers? In truth,

our privacy has not been taken from us. We have bartered it

away, bit by bit, for services and modern conveniences-credit

cards, debt cards, cell phones, e-mails, voice mailboxes. We

are getting entangled in the world of passwords, access codes,

and plastic money.

Privacy

is no longer about voluntary anonymity. Privacy in the digital

age means the ability, through legal and technical means, to

control information about us. Equally important will be the

widespread social acceptance-even the expectation-of individuals

having access to those controls and using them on a regular

basis.

You should

not be surprised then, to realize that securing your rights

and abilities to control the gathering and use of these kinds

of digital data will become a greater part of the national,

political, and social debate. There is a growing acceptance

by web-based businesses that they have to post detailed privacy

policy on their sites. Microprocessors are set to play a bigger

role in the security arena.

The trend

towards building user-id technology into microprocessors-designated

to provide a numerical id, say, when you make an electronic

transaction on the web-is accelerating and privacy groups are

up in arms.

Pentium

III ''s unique processor-identification number is used to track

and validate e-commerce transactions. The number helps identify

the owner of a chip for a web site when a transaction takes

place and assists Intel in tracking stolen chips. Intel isn''t

alone bringing security and microprocessors



together. Advanced Micro Devices and National Semiconductors
are evaluating technology similar to Intel is though it is not

clear yet how it might be implemented. Many IT managers are

having an incredible amount of concern over the security solutions

that are being deployed and whether they are strong enough.The unexpected

strong reaction to Pentium III''s unique serial number emphasizes

to the entire PC industry the growing intensity of the digital

identity debate. We have seen fundamental flaws detected in

the implementation of a variety of security algorithms and solutions

as they have been deployed, which attacks the fundamental premise

by which the new connected world is being delivered.



Things like these questions about the exact definition of privacy
policies in themselves and the fundamental rights of visitors

to keep their personal information personal. The IT industry

would prefer to avoid the onus of government regulation, and

it is even possible that the industry is better equipped to

regulate itself. Nevertheless, the fact that more than half

of the sites and businesses with privacy policies provide no

contact information combined with the fact that one-third of

all sites are without any privacy policies, means that there

is plenty of room for improvement.

A truly

comprehensive privacy policy would adhere to five criteria.

It would notify customers that their information was being collected,

let them refuse to have their information collected, permit

them to review and change their information when necessary,

promise to keep their information secure, and provide contact

information for questions.

Implementation

of variety of security algorithms and solutions and to make

them hacking proof is a challenging task on the road of technological

developments. The fantastic advances in the field of electronic

communication constitute a greater danger to the privacy of

the individual. Maybe but at least I can call my broker while

I am on Tokyo express highway or retrieve my e-mail from my

office in Tokyo while I am sitting on the marine drive looking

at the Arabian Sea.