Ignorance Without Bliss

Computerworld - The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated." Does being sent an unsolicited commercial message on a wireless device constitute such a search? After all, the location-based service vendor is searching for your business, searching for the itch you need to scratch. Is the restaurant that "senses" you are near and sends you a menu special on your BlackBerry pager violating your constitutionally granted civil rights?

People in our society need to better understand and more broadly discuss technology's impact on our shrinking realm of guaranteed privacy. The Federal Communications Commission now requires that all wireless companies be able to pinpoint within 50 meters the location of people who call 911 on their cell phones. This has placed the wireless industry in the cross hairs of privacy advocates, Ralph Nader wannabes and muckrakers in search of a microphone. At the base of all this turmoil is monstrous consumer ignorance of the issues at hand.

Almost every privacy and security book has buried deep inside it a paraphrase of the ominous "They think they are whispering, but really, they are broadcasting" warning. In his dissent to a very important decision in the Kyllo v. U.S. case, in which police used an outside thermal scanner to detect marijuana growing inside an Oregon man's house, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens argued, "What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection."

Computer scientists will tell you that everyone knows wireless isn't secure. If that's true, then is all information that we place in the wireless domain public information?

Who is responsible for telling the protowireless customer that out-of-the-box, off-the-shelf devices aren't necessarily secure? I tend to give businesses the benefit of the doubt as they try to balance the need to generate quarterly profits with the mandate to be socially responsible. Having said that, I'm disappointed that companies are dancing around the security issue. When a wireless vulnerability was recently publicized, a spokesman for a major wireless device manufacturer sought to downplay the potential risk, explaining, "These were sophisticated users using fairly sophisticated systems." This makes me feel much better. I would hate to think that my privacy was being compromised by dullards wielding cheap gear.

The bottom line is that nothing - no government agency, no piece of software or hardware - willensure your privacy. Privacy isn't something someone gives you. In our digital world, it's something you give yourself.

So first, get a better handle on your personal information. What's private and what isn't? Then understand the information risk associated with the different devices you use. Highly private information shouldn't pass through high-risk devices. In the world of wireless, you have to be your own data sheriff. ROI