Folks:
I thank some of you for posting your comments on the e-privacy
bulletin board that the CBC has set-up.
I'm not sure how long the discussion group will last, so please feel
free to continue to share your thoughts on the crypto-canada mailing
list
http://crypto-canada.greatvideo.com
Regards
Robert
Here's a message I really like...
http://interact.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/WebX?14@119.UM22aQsobAM^4@.ee768e0
(see e-prvacy discussion section)
I think that it should be written into Canada's constitution that ANY
information about any Candadian citizen belongs to that citizen. That
any agency who wants to store, retrieve, review, transfer or in any
way duplicate that information must obtain formal consent from the
citizen involved. That every citizen has the right to know what
information an agency is storing about them, and who they have shared
this information with.
I think treating personal information with the same rules as private
property would solve our privacy fears.
The really scary scenario is that with the proliferation of public
video cameras and wireless technologies, our every move may someday
be recorded in a database somewhere. Even cars are now being equipped
with technologies that track where we are and how we are driving at
all times. That is really Orwellian, in my opinion. Cell phones do
the same thing by continuously traingulating your position, in fact,
if cell nodes didn't do this, cell phones wouldn't work.
The next big wave that is coming, with the convergence of television,
telephony, broadband internet and wireless networked home electronics
is that everything - even your box of Cheerios will have an IP
address.
I attended a recent lecture at UBC that was given by Dr. William J.
Raduchel, the Chief Strategy Officer of Sun Microsystems, and he said
that Sun and many other companies are hard at work putting the
finishing touches on the technology that will make it possible for
your fridge to recognize that you are running out of milk, and
automatically add it to your shopping list, and automatically shop
for it if you want - but here is the really freaky part: In the near
future, Dr. Raduchel said that all advertising will be targeted based
on your 'electronic behavior'. Picture this: You come home from work
and your house sees you coming and the door opens and the net-enabled
television in your livingroom comes on, and there is a commercial for
Cheerios that says, "Did you know that the box of Cheerios in your
cupboard is almost empty?" - and a coupon for Cheerios will print out
of your net-enabled refrigerator, and the General Foods corporation
will be able to run a report that tells them exactly how many boxes
of Cheerios there are sitting in cupboards in wired homes across
Canada, and how full each one is.
This is not science fiction - this is reality, and it is coming to a
net-enabled home near you.
If you think your privacy is an issue now, just wait until your TV
set knows what you had for breakfast, and your toilet knows the
blood-sugar levels in your urine, which is automatically appended to
your medical records.
Big brother is here, and he is about to become far more powerful that
Orwell could have ever imagined.
I encourage you to look this up for yourself, look at the Sun
Microsystems website and review the white papers on Jini technology
and how companies like Whirlpool are building it into new appliances.
Sun is just one example, of course, there are hundreds of companies
who enthusiastically embrace these new technologies.
Ken MacAllister Vancouver, BC
--
"...as we transfer our whole being to the data bank, privacy will
become a ghost or echo of its former self and what remains of
community will disappear"...Marshal McLuhan
--
Robert Guerra