Big uncle: policies and controls for security systems

In our discussions of Big Uncle, we have seen how privacy is pretty much a thing of the past, certainly in the electronic realm. In the final blog post of this series, we look at how it is up to all of us to ensure that the result is Big Uncle not Big Brother.

The Information Technology-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC) and other industry ISACs establish mechanisms for the systematic and protected exchange of highly sensitive business information.

Other major initiatives from industry-led organizations include the International Security Trust and Privacy Alliance (ISTPA), which has defined a technical framework for privacy services.

As business and government work together to put in place standards and controls, more trust will be conferred on security systems, ceding privacy to them so that they may protect us. Security systems of increasing sophistication will, with our permission, manage complex data from multiple sources to detect and respond to threats to our community and our businesses. They will provide benevolent security, we hope.

Communities get the government they deserve. Despotism arises with the tacit consent of the majority, and is overthrown through rejection by the majority (or a powerful minority). IT professionals are at the centre of the implementation of all modern security measures. We owe it to ourselves, our professionalism and our community to ensure that these measures are imposed with benevolent intent: and to blow whistles when they are not.

The world has changed for the worse. Security will increase and privacy decrease. Advanced technologies will deploy to make it so. The IT industry - as a group and as individuals - has a central role in ensuring that technology delivers the benevolent security of Big Uncle, not the despotism of Big Brother.

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