When I began my professional career in privacy and data protection I believed that we needed strong government regulations to protect against the misuses of personal information by governments and corporations. But then as technology advanced, it became apparent that governments were becoming more of a culprit, especially with the mass surveillance programs they were instituting. Realizing that government regulation on the uses of personal information was now analogous to the “fox protecting the hen house,” I created Privacy by Design wherein privacy could be built in directly into one’s IT infrastructure — embedded into the design of one’s operations, as a permanent means of data protection, no longer reliant on government regulation which was rapidly becoming a lagging remedy because of the pace of digital innovation. But then over the last decade, governments and certain corporations became bedfellows, collecting personal information with, in effect, no “Nightwatchmen” with strong teeth to protect citizens. Governments in concert with corporations had the power to do this, and we citizens were powerless to stop it. That is why I believe that we now we need to transform government from a centralized, domineering structure into a decentralized, actualizing one that incorporates freedom at its root. Otherwise, I believe we will never be able to truly protect our privacy, and most important, our cherished freedoms.—Ann
Comments on our paper: Government Transformed
Comments on our paper: Government Transformed
Comments on our paper: Government Transformed
When I began my professional career in privacy and data protection I believed that we needed strong government regulations to protect against the misuses of personal information by governments and corporations. But then as technology advanced, it became apparent that governments were becoming more of a culprit, especially with the mass surveillance programs they were instituting. Realizing that government regulation on the uses of personal information was now analogous to the “fox protecting the hen house,” I created Privacy by Design wherein privacy could be built in directly into one’s IT infrastructure — embedded into the design of one’s operations, as a permanent means of data protection, no longer reliant on government regulation which was rapidly becoming a lagging remedy because of the pace of digital innovation. But then over the last decade, governments and certain corporations became bedfellows, collecting personal information with, in effect, no “Nightwatchmen” with strong teeth to protect citizens. Governments in concert with corporations had the power to do this, and we citizens were powerless to stop it. That is why I believe that we now we need to transform government from a centralized, domineering structure into a decentralized, actualizing one that incorporates freedom at its root. Otherwise, I believe we will never be able to truly protect our privacy, and most important, our cherished freedoms.—Ann