Tech talk

/ 01 March 2010

What's the problem with privacy, asks Guy Clapperton

Privacy

If you’re reading this there’s a good chance you’ll know my name – it appears at the end of this column; if you've read Edge magazine you'll even know what I look like. Beyond that you don’t need to know much more about me; there’s no reason to care where I live, what my interests are (philosophy and alligator wrestling), whether I’m married, single, straight, gay, a dad, whatever.

This makes the recent comments by Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, where he announced that he believes privacy is no longer expected, seem a little curious. Zuckerberg was speaking at a trade show in the US and said pretty clearly that people’s expectations about privacy had changed alongside the media which carried their information.
 
He believes we are out-evolving notions of privacy as a society.As a comment on social mores and the evolution of a society, this has its merits. Yes, I’m on Facebook, Twitter and all of those social media sites (you try writing a book on social networking without joining the lot). These days people do put an awful lot of information about themselves online in ways that could never have happened before.

As a comment to managers, on the other hand, it’s useless. People’s expectations about privacy are different from their rights and it’s rights that can be enforced.Managers, then, need to understand the irrelevance of a lot of the surface debate and to focus on what’s actionable if breached.

It might even be worth setting out a privacy code of conduct. Treat information about others as you’d want someone to treat your own, no matter what the law says. This doesn’t mean sneakily covering yourself with a carefully concealed tick box so you can sell people’s addresses at will.

Fodder for paparazzis

Impress the same standards on employees – so no repeats of the retailer whose employees set up a Facebook site (fun idea) and tipped each other off about when various celebrities turned up in their stores (not illegal, but fodder for paparazzis nonetheless).

Follow all of the strictures of the Data Protection Act and then some – but try not to implement it in a heavy-handed way. For example, if you work with children, you’re not prohibited from taking a group photo as long as you ask the parents first.

Remember that most information breaches are managerial rather than technical, so keeping staff up to date with all of your policies and the sanctions that apply is fundamental.

It is not only a question of privacy. There are also issues of security, not to mention protection of brands and confidential data. You’ll notice that none of this advice chimes particularly well with Zuckerberg’s comments about people’s expectations.

There may indeed be a new generation – this time based on the use of networks rather than actual ages – which fully expects a holistic picture, including compromising images of their digital identity, to be available online.

The reaction from many commentators should remind everybody that managers can’t afford to take that trendy attitude. For once, it’s going to pay to be behind the times.

By Guy Clapperton