As an Internet populace we are increasingly being tracked, taken through covert redirects and are often at risk of serious fraud and abuse. And the situation only gets creepier as we put more of our lives online, and as corporations and governments get better tracking and analytics technologies.
To be sure, most people are still happy to get “free stuff” and some are still relatively comfortable putting up with the ad infrastructure. We love to communicate. We love to share. And that’s fine. As Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian likes to say: “Privacy isn’t about secrecy. It’s about control.”
But no one would choose to get hacked, cyber-bullied, doxed or dossed. No one would choose to get flurries of fraudulent monthly charges and be hounded by creditors. No one would choose to waste time struggling to regain control of one’s digital identity or reputation. Unfortunately, all too often that’s the endgame.
Breaches will continue until the business paradigm of exploiting rather than respecting personal information changes, and regulatory remediation is necessary but not sufficient.
What if we could change the paradigm? We already have access to much of our personal information. In fact, Liz Brandt and Alan Mitchell from the UK-based consultancy Ctrl-Shift argue that control of information has noticeably shifted from organizations to people since the days of mainframes and desktop PCs. What if we, the people, could take even more control?
Enter Respect Network. On June 23rd and 24th 70+ companies that are partnered in a global private network initiative are coming to London to rock City Hall with their disruptive messages like.
- Privacy is the missing link of online empowerment
- Individuals can gain control of their personal clouds
- Developers are eager to adopt Privacy By Design
- Multiple personal cloud service providers (CSPs) can make a decentralized network work with a high level of interoperability
- The Respect Reputation System can incentive respectful behavior
- Businesses can profit from business models based on trusted customer relationships
- Individuals, developers, CSPs and business will create mountains of value to drive this network
I would like to pass on my complimentary invitation to attend Respect Network’s global launch in London. Let us explain more fully not just the vision I sketched out, but also the full business, legal and technical (BLT) model that will positively incentive good privacy practices, give individuals control and make that whole paradigm viable for social and business commerce at scale online. This event is your chance to join experts, commentators and other leading businesses to understand more about the unique opportunity and what the Respect Network has to offer.
- To register for the evening celebration on Monday 23 June please click here.
- To register for the immersion day on Tuesday 24 June please click here.
Dan
Blum, Chief Security and Privacy Architect, Respect Network
