Comments on: Privacy for the next decade, not next week

By: Frank Work

Frank Work — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:25:44 +0000

I was at the function where Professor Kerr made his remarks. I confess that I squirmed in my seat: I thought he was speaking to me. But his remarks were insightful and provided a fitting reminder to me not to lose sight of the principles behind the laws my Office administers. And, with all due respect to my namesake poster, this is exactly what our academic colleagues (and rock musicians) should be doing: reminding us of the big picture, asking us to “imagine” what the fruits of our labours could be. Finally, the fact that Ian’s remarks moved the other Frank to enter the debate proves their value.

By: Colin McKay

Colin McKay — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:38:38 +0000

Thank you for a very well written and persuasive comment, Frank.

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:32:43 +0000

Idealism certainly has its place in life and society. We’d all live in a much poorer world if there was nothing to aspire to except the mechanical administration of things

But idealism without action is just idle dreaming. Idealism without dialogue and angagement is mere dogmatism or, worse, fanaticism. And idealism and action without responsibility is plain tyranny.

Like any human right, we will collectively get the privacy that we are ready to stand up and fight for.

Let those who profess to define the privacy ideals for all of society descend from the clouds and test their theories and dreams in the messy and complex surface of the real world. Let them build broad-based societal support for their ideals before they criticize those who fight the privacy wars every day in the trenches, who face thorny dilemmas defending privacy one victim at at a time, and who must make practical decisions that affect real people. It’s easy to critize, but harder to build.

We already have in Canada and the E.U. broad, pro-active, far-reaching and principles-based laws that define and govern privacy. Morevoer, we also have in place oversight authorities to interpret and apply these laws in a fair and impartial manner. To my mind, the broad societal framework for privacy has been largely established.

The task is now to go out an *apply* these overarching laws and principles in a systemic AND case-by-case manner, consistent with the general will of the people, and in a way that makes privacy real and relevant to all in society.

This is, of course, exactly what privacy regulators and privacy professionals do, every day. To suggest that they do not observe trends or see the big picture is unfair and needlesly provocative.

By: Julianna Yau’s blog » Yesterday’s bookmarks

Julianna Yau’s blog » Yesterday’s bookmarks — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:56:08 +0000

[...] Privacy for the next decade, not next week [...]

By: Tyler

Tyler — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:20:42 +0000

If most of the time and energey of privacy protection authorities is occupied by protecting the privacy rights of individuals, then it sounds like these authorities could gain a lot of efficiencies by implementing systems that take after our favourite tech firms’ technical support departments. These systems are highly accessible, accountable (for the most part) and provide more useful data for trend analysis. These trends could be important markers for policy makers less prone to somnambulism.

Yes, I appreciate the irony of my suggestion.