Peter Bradwell
Researcher
Peter Bradwell is a researcher at Demos. He is interested in digital identity, technology and the ways that information and knowledge is shared...
at 7:20pm
on Monday, 11th June 2007
A really useful report from Privacy International - rankings of the major internet companies based on an assessment of their attitudes and practices with regard to their users privacy.
It gets its hands dirty at the point where the sharing of information online - and the promises we hear about collaboration and involvement - strike against the protection of information about us and our habits. Great to see policy and practice laid out like this, whether you agree with the findings or not. As they say when outlining why they undertook the study:
We felt that consumers want to know about these surveillance practices so that they can make a better-informed decision about how, whether and with whom they should share their personal information. We also believe that companies need to be more open about how they process information and why it is processed.
That really chimes with what we're trying to do with For Your Information - tell that accessible story and articulate the broad context within which these dramatic changes are taking place.
The report has caused a bit of stir - Google are named dead last, with the report suggesting that it has an apathetic attitude and lax approach to the sucurity and integrity of people's personal information. The story is that Google responded by suggesting that Privacy International has a conflict of interest as one of its board works for Microsoft. Director Simon Davies' response is here, and well worth a read!
It gets its hands dirty at the point where the sharing of information online - and the promises we hear about collaboration and involvement - strike against the protection of information about us and our habits. Great to see policy and practice laid out like this, whether you agree with the findings or not. As they say when outlining why they undertook the study:
We felt that consumers want to know about these surveillance practices so that they can make a better-informed decision about how, whether and with whom they should share their personal information. We also believe that companies need to be more open about how they process information and why it is processed.
That really chimes with what we're trying to do with For Your Information - tell that accessible story and articulate the broad context within which these dramatic changes are taking place.
The report has caused a bit of stir - Google are named dead last, with the report suggesting that it has an apathetic attitude and lax approach to the sucurity and integrity of people's personal information. The story is that Google responded by suggesting that Privacy International has a conflict of interest as one of its board works for Microsoft. Director Simon Davies' response is here, and well worth a read!
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