links for 2008-08-22

• The Eternal Value of Privacy
  "My problem with quips like these -- as right as they are -- is that they accept the premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's not. Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect."
  (tags: identity privacy information+security)
• Dream to Reality: How I Quit My Day Job | ThinkSimpleNow.com
  Inspiration from a passionate 20-something who is on the road to happiness, forever. She seems to understand the secret: face your fears and pain head-on. They are your teachers.
  (tags: inspiration)
• A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
  From Allison Walker, a cool mental model of visualization methods.
  (tags: information+science visualization hci)

Comments

[Colin Jervis]

Hi Dale,
Re: Eternal Value of Privacy

Thanks for bringing my attention to the excellent article.

The UK is struggling with a number of security and privacy issues. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has said we are "sleepwalking into a surveillance society".

The UK is planning huge databases of personal information. Unfortunately, recent events have raised serious concerns about the ablility of public sector organisations and their contractors to secure, and maintain the confidentiality of, the information they hold.

Last year HM Revenue and Customs (rough equivalent to the IRS) lost its entire database of 25m people receiving child benefit on two unencrypted CDs.

Last week, a contractor of the UK Home Office mislaid an entire database of prisoners and prolific offenders in England and Wales--the records of about 130,000 people--apparently held encrypted on a USB flash drive.

Is all this making us more or less secure?