Over the last 6 or so months, Bob Blakley and I have been doing a lot of listening and thinking about privacy. To successfully re-launch our privacy coverage, we needed to lay a wide foundation that would serve to support future research. We needed to provide a meaningful starting point for our customers. Since our customers’ jobs are not typically focused on privacy, we needed to start with a form of first principles and build outward.
I’ve learned that it is generally frowned upon to use the second person in our reports – too informal I am told. Use the blog if you want to address the audience directly. Normally, I don’t have a problem avoiding the second person, but this report proved to be a challenge. We had to work hard not to write without using “you.” And why was that? Privacy discussions are and must be inclusive. They involve each of us on a far more personal level than a discussion of, say, account lifecycle management. Cognizant of privacy implications or not, the decisions you make on a daily basis have effects the privacy of your customers and partners.
Because privacy is personal, because it requires concerted behavior throughout the enterprise, discussions about privacy must include everyone. You. Me. Everyone. To guide concerted behavior, in our recently released privacy report, we put forth a Golden Rule as a means of developing and evaluating privacy principles leadings to practices and behaviors:
This report is by no means the end of our exploration of privacy – it is just the beginning. We will continuing the conversation this July, at Catalyst North America, in the “Privacy Risks Get Real” track. We are working hard to ensure that these discussions reflect the inclusive nature of privacy. We’ll be exploring privacy concerns across multiple domains: from healthcare to higher education. Finally, to sweeten the deal, we have worked with the International Association of Privacy Professionals to get some of the tracks at Catalyst approved for Continuing Privacy Education credits. We are looking forward to continuing the privacy conversations with all of you this July!
Speaking of Catalyst, we have special surprise for IdPS blog readers… Since it is Easter egg hunting season, we’ve placed a couple of them on the Catalyst web site. The prize inside is a super discount code to attend Catalyst. To find the eggs, go to the conference web site and do this:
- Hover (but don’t click) over the “San Diego” icon for 20 seconds
-or-
- Click and hold on the Catalyst logo and then drag your mouse off and release
Register right away – this discount is limited to 50 users and could disappear at any time!
(Cross posted from the Identity Blog @ Burton Group.)