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Privacy Professionals Should Share the Wealth
August 16, 2010
I guest-blogged for anti-ID theft crusader John Sileo’s web site this week and thought I’d re-post here for readers of the Ponemon. Permalink

Legislating Social Privacy
July 30, 2010
There’s a great deal of talk these days about privacy and social media. Specifically, services like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social networking platforms are coming under increased scrutiny over their privacy policies and data sharing practices. Permalink

When Privileged Access is no longer a Privilege
July 19, 2010
I just read an interesting multi-part investigative report in the Washington Post about how intelligence gathering – and the bureaucracy that has risen since September 11, 2001 to facilitate the harvest and analysis of that information – has spun beyond the federal government’s control, not to mention its ability to make use of the sheer abundance of information. Permalink

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Facebook's Pioneering Privacy Path

May 26, 2010

Wow. Facebook seems to have rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way -- again. Time Magazine put the company on the cover this week following yet another privacy misstep and an admission by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that, perhaps, the company had made a few mistakes in calculating the public’s acceptance of its data use practices.

Even as Facebook implements simpler privacy controls in response to criticism, a growing number of users are upset at the moving target that has become privacy on the popular social networking platform. A mass exodus from Facebook has been called for on Monday, May 31 (Memorial Day here in the United States) in protest of the recent changes to Facebook’s privacy practices. How many people will abandon the popular service? According to a recent poll by the computer security experts at Sophos, as many as 60 percent of Facebook subscribers are considering leaving.

In real numbers that means that the company’s user population should plummet by about 300 million before the calendar turns from May to June, but the number of people who have actually committed to the move only stands at about 11,000 – fewer than at times following other miscues, such as the ill-conceived Beacon advertising program.

I don’t doubt Sophos’ numbers. I can easily accept that 60 percent of Facebook’s subscribers are frustrated with recent changes, even if that frustration doesn’t translate to abandonment. And even if May 31 comes and goes without a significant drop in active Facebook subscribers, the very public nature of this episode and Facebook’s response offers a valuable lesson that is largely overlooked by the company’s legion of critics and commentators.

Facebook’s near constant tinkering with its privacy policy and user settings, while exasperating, is also commendable. I can’t think of any company that deals with a surfeit of personal information that has chosen a road as open to public scrutiny as the one Facebook has taken. Has Facebook made errors along the way? Absolutely, but the company has a right to try and make a profit from its service, just as the public has a right to join or un-join.

To dismiss Facebook outright would be a mistake. To express outrage without acknowledging the progress the company has made – and the lessons we’ve all learned as a result – would be an even bigger mistake. Progress demands bold pioneers willing to take risks for the sake of discovery.

I don’t expect Monday’s call for abandonment to result in a significant drop in Facebook’s subscriber rolls, but I do expect that Facebook, as it has all along, to adjust its sails as a result of the response. I also expect the process to continue. If the public becomes more aware of its role in managing personal privacy online ,and if the business community at large takes away positive lessons, how can that be a bad thing?

Posted by Mike Spinney at 11:47 am

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