velouria.org

A few months ago, I attended to Search me: What’s happening to privacy on line? an event organized by Demos and hosted by Google at its London’s headquarters in Victoria.
The invited speakers were: Catherine Fieschi, Demos’ Director and also chair of the panel; Peter Fleischer, Google’s Global Privacy Counsel; William H. Dutton, director of the Oxford Internet Studies; and Bobbie Johnson, tech correspondent at The Guardian.
Here’s some random bits I found interesting and made me think about this issue:

- The “i” of the word privacy should sound like the “i” in ship and not like “eye”.

- In 2005, the DOJ requested for generic search records to several Internet Seach companies (Google, AOL, Yahoo, MSN). Google was the only one that said no and the DOJ asked a federal judge to order the company to give that information. The news came to public because of Google’s refusal.- According to research people tend to think that the Internet poses a much higher threat to privacy than CCTV cameras.

- Privacy isn’t a new issue: it’s been discussed since the 50s.

- There must be a balance between identification and privacy to prevent fraud and identity theft. Identification is important in sites like eBay where create a reputation plays an essencial role.

- It’s huge the metadata we leave behind everyday: credit/debit cards, public transport cards (Oyster), CCTV images, loyalty cards (Tesco, Nectar), mobile phone…

- We’re sleepwalking into a surveillance society and we don’t pretty much care about it.

- Monty, the cat that appeared in Google Street View, her owner had to ask Google for the image to be removed.

- In Sweden the website ratsit.se allows salary searches on any Swedish citizen.

- Systems should be able to forget information.

- We sign terms of agreement and privacy policies that we don’t actually read.

- Schools should play a role in educating kids about privacy. There are concerns about what information kids put these days in Facebook like sites.

- We’re underestimating kids. The new generations have a different view of privacy and can tailor it (choose who accesses their information). They’re learning quickly.

- We don’t know much about how data about us is being used and by whom.

- Every time we use a credit card that info flashes in 60 countries.

- The target advertisement campaigns based on criteria must respect privacy.

- The data we provide to companies (loyalty cards, loyalty credit cards) must give value. We give data and get value from it and that’s fine.

- GMail ads target only the email message. It’s effective and simple. There is no memory, no profile, no history.

- We have a bizarre relationship with privacy: we are concerned about privacy but will give it away for security, health, etc.

The talk was so much more interesting than this clumsy wrap up.
I left the building thinking Google takes the privacy issue very serious and it’s probably not the Big Brother we thing it is…
Was I totally brainwashed?! :)

São 2 e tal da manhã e escrevo estas linhas enrolada num saco de cama dentro da minha tenda algures no campus da Universidade de Twente do HAL2001. Acabei de vir da tenda principal, a /HOME, um sítio incrível onde há mesas corridas de madeira cheias de gente com todo o tipo de computadores portáteis e desktops, ao som de Prodigy ou dos Red Hot, um ambiente quase de discoteca em que as pessoas em vez de estarem a dançar, estão em frente aos seus computadores. O acampamento, que se estende por todo o campus, é impressionante. Vêem-se tendas enormes com mesas, cheias de material informático, computadores, daqueles que nós deixámos ficar em casa, com monitores com uma brutalidade de polegadas, racks cheios de luzinhas a piscar. E rede, há quase por todo o lado. Nunca tive internet tão rápida em toda a minha vida, e dentro da minha tenda iglo! 

Chegámos anteontem, vindos directamente do Schiphol, de comboio até Hengelo. Felizmente o D., que estava à nossa espera no aeroporto, levou-nos grande parte das malas de carro. 100 e muitos Km depois, marcados pelo GPS do Gk, assentámos arraiais no meio do campus da Universidade de Twente ao lado dum lago com um edifício submerso bem no meio, junto das tendas já montadas do ZN e do P..
O tempo está indeciso, o sol aparece de vez em quando, chove bastante e à noite está um frio de rachar. Sinto-me completamente a congelar e cansadíssima. Acho que vou dormir… 

Todas as informações vão estando disponíveis na página oficial.

update: My HAL2001 photos on flickr.com

Acordei no mítico século XXI.
Para minha grande tristeza continua tudo na mesma… Não há colónias na Lua; a nanotecnologia ainda está nos primórdios; nenhum Homem até à data pisou solo marciano, nem tão pouco se pensa em terraformar o sítio; a realidade virtual e a matrix do William Gibson ainda continuam um sonho distante para o qual já não devo viver; a esperança média de vida dos países civilizados mantém-se pelos 70 e tal, está longe a esperança de viver para além dos 100; a genética vai avançando a passo de caracol, sempre a tropeçar nos problemas éticos; népias de implantes: continuamos a ser quase 90% naturais; vida extraterrestre inteligente: a prova que há é que ainda não tentaram contactar-nos; não caminhamos para a uma distopia ao estilo do Blade Runner… Se isto é um ano 2001 que se apresente vou ali e já venho…
:)
Acho que é a reacção normal de quem passou quase toda a sua vida a ler livros e ver filmes de ficção científica e a imaginar um século XXI ultra-tecnológico. Pronto temos a Internet que foi uma revolução tecnológica e continuará a surpreender-nos de formas que ainda não imaginámos. Mas tenho a certeza que este vai ser um século muito interessante! :) 
Um bom ano 2001 para todos! 

–

I woke up in the mythical 21th Century. 
Everything is exactly the same… There are no Moon colonies, in fact the space exploration has been dragged down since the end of the Cold War; the nanotechnology is in its early years; no one set foot on Mars yet, and terraforming the place is beyond imagination, virtual reality and William Gibson’s matrix are still a distant dream and probably I’ll not live to see or experience that worlds; life expectancy is still around 70 years, and we’re far away from living 100 years and more; genetics continues to advance slowly and always stumbling on ethical problems; no implants, we’re still 90% organic; intelligent extraterrestial life: the proof they’re out there is we’re still waiting for a contact. We’re not walking to a dystopian Blade Runner like world…
Certainly this isn’t a proper 2001!… 
:)
Ok, this is the reaction of someone who spent her entire childhood reading science fiction books and watching science fiction movies and TV shows, and was expecting an ultra-technological 21th Century. Ok, we have the technological revolution called Internet, and it will definitely surprised us in the next years.
Come what may I believe this will be a very interesting century. :)
Happy 2001 everyone!