Who Owns Information About You?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jim Morris <jim.morris () west cmu edu>
Date: May 12, 2006 5:13:41 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Who Owns Information About You?

The NSA call data base controversy has reminded us of what we all  
know:  the power of computer networks has changed many of the  
assumptions upon which our laws and privacy practices are based.  
Collection of information that was once benign, like records kept in  
city halls, is now problematical because it is so easy to access and  
aggregate.

Just as the phone companies own the call data, Google, LinkedIn and  
all the other services are building large data bases of valuable  
information about our intentions and relationships. As these hidden  
assets grow in size and value there will be pressure to exploit them  
for profit. Imagine that a company begins failing in its ostensible  
service business. Wouldn't the stockholders be justified in expecting  
it to use or sell its data base in some way we wouldn't like?

Because it is possible and, some think, necessary to collect  
information about everyone, we are going to have less privacy. Trying  
to block collection of information is difficult. To give us a  
fighting chance, here is a principle I'd like to see adopted:  
everyone has the right to know what is recorded about them. The major  
exception would be people who were being investigated by law  
enforcement or intelligence agencies. So, for example, the NSA might  
not have to get a warrant to ingest your phone records, but it would  
have to disclose to you that it has collected this information unless  
it can convince a judge that you are involved in wrong doing.  Credit  
reporting agencies are required to disclose information they've  
collected about you. Let's extend that requirement to all other  
organizations.


James H. Morris
Professor of Computer Science
Dean, Carnegie Mellon West
412 609-5000
http://west.cmu.edu
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jhm




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