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[Paul Jones <pjones AT metalab.unc.edu>]

http://ils.unc.edu/gbnewby/cpsr-press.txt
Skinny - CPSR Privacy Forum
Who - Brock Meeks, Wayne Crews of Cato, and Robert Ellis Smith of Privacy
Journal
When - Wednesday May 23rd 1 - 4 pm
Where - Kamphoefner Auditorium at NCSU on Pullen Road off Hillsborough
http://www.ncsu.edu/campus_map/north.htm (building 11) in Brooks Hall

review

http://cyberlaw.ncsu.edu/

i was at yesterday's cyberlaw.ncsu.edu symposium which was more industry
education than symposium if truth be known. everyone was hyped on john
edwards' brief appearance (he had to rush back to dc to vote against the
tax cut). edwards was introduced by state sen. eric reeves who is heading
up the nc senate information technology committee/project (i forget which
it is) who was himself introduced by ncsu chancellor maryanne fox. edwards
rehashed the four principals of privacy - notice (that information is
being collected), choice (aka opt-in or at least the ability of opt-out),
access (to your own records so's you can review and correct them), and
finally security (that the records not be stolen or misused in any way).
he also made a case for his bill making 'spyware' or programs that report
back to vendors unbeknownst to the users illegal.

most of the speakers were either from the school of management or from
contributoring companies to the conference (yesmail, wachovia, ibm, a law
firm who name i forget) the exception being richard smith of the privacy
foundation. richard smith is not to be confused with robert smith of
the similarly named privacy journal. the speakers were good and aimed not
surprisingly at business and commerce for the main.

but as may be expected several of the opinions where actually pitches for
the sponsors products and services (in particular yesmail was guilty of
this. ibm and wachovia and the law firm were more subtle and broader. the
faculty of the school of management was also guilty of hyping their
websites and their papers and books if they were even remotely related to
the topic at hand. all this was handy info to have, but there was a mist
of selfservice in the air at all times).

everyone likes privacy and all companies are responsible (you wouldn't
want the government to be involved would you -- yes if you are edwards who
is sponsoring a bill against 'spyware' or if you are reeves altho he
seemed to be saying privacy regulation is a federal level problem not a
local or state one).

smith has his doubts about everyone but seemed to push for kinds of
privacy that are to my mind unlawful such as a restriction of access to
public records (by the public.  it's okay by him if the publc records are
hard to get to as in say leather bound books in the court house where they
are mostly delved into by legal assistants and private investigators).
forget about that pesky first ammendment, i guess.

in my journalist guise, i asked about the forfiture of privacy by public
figures (his cases janet reno and o.j.) and the public's right to know. we
should know how much janet owes on her house if she entertains the idea of
being governor of florida say.

anyhow the power of transparency and the ensuing responsibilities and
accountabilities was not much touched nor not the theorical loss of
private and individual self to larger and a more homogeneous society that
may come with too much disclosure of information. why get heady we're
talking law (without much case law being cited) and commerce (which is
good good good).

the food was quite nice and the people hopelessly civilized ;-> among the
bitter delights was seeing saundra just before she took off to cali.

also in the news and observer (not my version of course) at:
http://www.newsobserver.com/tuesday/news/nc/Story/439948p-430842c.html


off topic but of interest to you - 5 technologies to watch
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,24308,00.html
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                             Paul Jones
                    "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!"
http://www.ibiblio.org/pjones/ at the Site Formerly Known As MetaLab.unc.edu
  pjones AT ibiblio.org   voice: (919) 962-7600     fax: (919) 962-8071
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