Speaking Publicly about Privacy
By John Dillon
A panel of experts at this CFP lunchtime workshop argued that the pro-privacy community needs to reach out beyond the "inner circle" to the millions of people who may not even know their privacy is being invaded until it is too late.
Andre Bacard, (http://www.well.com/user/abacard), author of The Computer Privacy Handbook, handed out copies of his recent Playboy interview, and opened the discussion by declaring "we are in a surveillance age."
The public tends to underestimate the danger of government and corporate privacy invaders, he said. Yet 99.9 percent of the people whose privacy has been violated could never afford to come to this conference. People using the Internet are the only group in opposition, he said.
Ann Cavoukian, assistant commissioner of the Privacy Commission in Canada, said the Internet-savvy, pro-cryptographic community tends to look down on those not in the know. Most people she knows, she said, are not on the net. They've heard of the World-Wide Web, but are somewhat afraid of it. They don't know the language we speak, she said. Privacy advocates need to translate their language to the lay public.
People need to be more vigilant. Cavoukian said she was asked by her local video store for a social security number. "Never accept their routine expectation to give them information," she said.
Robert Ellis Smith, publisher of the Privacy Journal, offered some practical advice for people to follow after they leave the conference: don't present a photo ID on demand; take a stand and write letters. Demand a response. Government is impressed by the acts of determined citizens, he said. "Letters give good people the courage to do the right thing," he said. "...You've got to have persistence and facts. Be a pain in the ass."
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