Information is POWER! Everybody thinks about specialized industrial, technical or military and national security information when one says that, but what about your name? Well, your name can be changed, you can move from one city to another and even change your physical features, but when you are issued a Social Security Number, you are stamped for life. Well, even though, we could eventually change our SS number, it only can be made when the bad things have already happened.
I mentioned on another blog earlier, that people should assume that all information they post on the internet, even via a simple message, will become public information, at least in current situations. Now, can legislation be approved to restrict even further the misuse of your information? Yeah, of course it can be approved, but would it really help? I don’t think so. Right now most of your misuse information is obtained via illegal methods. You could actually buy Facebook profiles!
We could allow this problem to be solved by new government legislation, but I think it would be better if instead we encourage private companies to cease this opportunity by creating solutions themselves. Users can right now access a variety of software that gives you the chance to protect your navigation and the illegal access of Trojans, and viruses into your computer. This allows further development of new products, it could even represent a new competitive advantage for companies that may use it as a marketing characteristic. Another advantage of encouraging private companies to develop protection is the creation of jobs, and economic development. Furthermore, private companies have the ability to move faster in responses to new threats, that’s not the case with legislation.
I also believe that education about the proper ways to use internet and its resources should be provided by parents and institutions. The problem with this is that sometimes parents do not have the slightest idea on how to protect even themselves! There are a lot of negative consequences on losing your info.
From the marketing standpoint, if we restrict the recompilation of user information by firms, our local companies may face millionaire information losses. A lot of new opportunities are being developed around the world, companies from abroad could become the newer profile collectors which would be even more dangerous from a national security issue. We have to be careful, and hope that a company like Facebook is ready to compete in other markets where it is not currently allowed. So let’s not make our companies weaker, cause we could lose even further our internet security. Finally, let’s create a proper environment to incentivize security developments by private companies.
