In an era where privacy is not valued or considered as much as previous times, we regularly see big industry and government admitting to privacy violations after the fact. Some of examples of this include Amazon’s recent admission that it saves Alexa voice recordings even after users delete them, for the purposes of more targeted marketing (O’Donnel, 2019). FaceApp’s recent fiasco is another example. Although people did not fully read the legalize to determine what the app would do with their photos and many over-reacted because the company was Russian, the reality is the company can do whatever they want with your photo once you upload it. You are giving away your ownership and most users don’t have a clue. Which is not all that dissimilar to Facebook’s approach to photos (Fiegerman, 2019). One last example comes from other governments on American soil, with the use of cell phone surveillance technologies by other governments on US Citizens in places such as Washington DC and the surrounding area (Newman, 2018).
Law enforcement agencies are requesting and getting access to individual genetic information to solve cases, as evidenced by the Golden State Killer case (Health, 2018)
Larger issues involving privacy may involve identify theft, use of data without consent, lack of anonymity, and the trend to over-use shared information. For example, many people are uploading their DNA data to websites in order to conduct genealogy and family background searches. They provide their personal, private data with that purpose in mind. However, that data is now being used in ways the people who uploaded the data never considered or possibly intended. Law enforcement agencies are requesting and getting access to individual genetic information to solve cases, as evidenced by the Golden State Killer case (Health, 2018). Another way that DNA data could be used is to deny consumers life insurance based on DNA information or to provide their data in research studies, with or without their consent (Rosenbaum, 2018). One wonders how long it will be until healthcare providers start utilizing DNA information to make decisions about who to cover.
The use of facial recognition technology is being used more and more by various industries to include law enforcement as well as airports, malls, and stores. This technology enables the user the ability to identify individuals by matching video (live or recorded) or still photos to an increasing bank of “faces.” It is meant to be used in a positive fashion to increase safety in these areas and help to reduce crime. It can also be useful in identifying and locating missing persons. However, the increasingly popularity use of this technology presents real, and immediate, concerns about individual privacy. Some U.S. localities, such as Oakland, San Francisco, and Boston, are beginning to ban the use of facial recognition by government and law departments because of significant concerns regarding both the accuracy and ethical use of facial recognition. Because the systems were trained on one type of face (white males), there is considerable concern about the systems’ accuracy in recognizing women and people of color. In addition, there is little transparency and little information provided to the public on how this technology works and is being used. (Metz, 2019).
Facial recognition is a much more personal, less corporate concern as it directly impacts individuals and can be done without consent. This lack of consent is part of the reason many organizations are restricting or outright rejecting the use of this technology. However, others are embracing and taking full advantage of the benefits of this technology such as New York Law Enforcement and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (and many others – see banfacialrecognition.com/map). The latter organization uses driver’s license photographs to match identities (Edmondson, 2019) so, if you have a driver’s license, with a photograph, you’re in the (a) facial recognition database (in case you thought you weren’t).
The big trend is the consumer/ customer/patient data being controlled by corporate or government entities without disclosure on just how they plan to protect and use that information.
Another disturbing future trend is the embedding of technology into the human. Elon Musk is currently working on human computer implants to help stroke, cancer, and another medically impaired individuals. While this seems like a good idea, the reality is that the data coming directly from the patient’s brain would be stored by a corporate entity (Scaturro, 2019).
The big trend is the consumer/customer/patient data being controlled by corporate or government entities without disclosure on just how they plan to protect and use that information. The scope creep of usage is a big concern as well as the lack of transparency and oversight. This is our data being collected and managed without us fully knowing how. It’s time we became more active in understanding just how much we are giving away…
Dr. Susan Cole is a 2008 graduate of the University of Fairfax with a PhD in Information Assurance (Cybersecurity). She received her MBA from Salem International University (2007), her MA from American University in International Politics (1995), a BA from Wilson College in Foreign Languages (1994) and an AA in Mandarin Chinese (1997). For her PhD, she studied what influences the decision making process for IT and Cybersecurity managers in their recommendations to adopt and implement new security technology in their organizations. The specific technology she researched was Biometrics. She has achieved and maintains certification as both a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) and a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH). She also obtained her Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK). She’s held numerous positions from Cybersecurity Policy writer for an enterprise to a member of an Incident Response Team. Much of her career has focused on certification and accreditation (C&A) activities, now assessment and authorization (A&A) under NIST’s Risk Management Framework. She provided consulting support to small companies and now works as an Information System Security Officer (ISSO). Dr. Cole has been teaching since 2012 and has been involved with Colorado Technical University (CTU), Concordia University, Baker College, University of Maryland (UMUC), and Thomas Edison State University (TESU).
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