3PHealth Blog
Privacy is a Balance
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
As I watch the news unfolding about Path (link) and the controversy over accessing my address book, I can’t but shake my head in amazement that people are still missing the point. It’s not that they accessed my data without my permission that’s the problem – it’s that I have no choice in what I choose to share that’s at the heart of the matter.
Think about it for a moment, Michael Arrington is an investor in Path. Now Michael probably has an address book only second to Ron Conway’s. Can you just imagine the number of aspiring entrepreneurs who would love to access that database. And it’s probably all sitting up on someone’s servers somewhere.
Now to their credit Path immediately issued an apology and deleted everyone’s data from their servers. So far so good. Now comes the problem – they then updated their app so that it asked “permission” to access your address book. As someone would tweet – #fail.
They are still missing the core problem – I want to allow Path access to “some of the people in my address book” – but only those who Path turn into something of value for me. And therein (as the Bard says) lies the problem. Privacy is NOT binary, it’s contextual. Not only do I want a choice in what I share, I want to ensure that sharing the data results in a better outcome for both parties.
What the current approach to Privacy has #failed to do is deliver not only a choice, but it has failed to make it contextually aware of not only Who I am, but Where I am. My Privacy has value – it must have because at the moment this topic is becoming radioactive – and yet my only “Choice” is binary. Either share it or not. Well how about offering me something in return? Why do you get to keep the value and I don’t. Seems like an unfair choice to me.
Ultimately Privacy is a balance between ensuring Privacy and allowing information to be shared for a better outcome.
And that’s why we invented the new Choice™ browser. It gives you a choice in what and to whom, you want to share your personal data with.
Mobile Device Privacy Act – Read the Discussion Draft
Monday, February 6th, 2012
I hope you’ll read this Mobile Device Privacy Act Discussion Draft and pass along to others. The discussion draft focuses on transparency and choice surrounding data collection, not about what data is collected and how the data is used. It also holds the device and OS manufacturers to the same standards as the wireless carriers, along with any after-market “monitoring software” installations. I did not see any specific definition of “monitoring software”. Will have to ask my congressman about that one…
Whether you are for or against the specific points of the act, I hope you’ll educate yourself and share your feedback with your state representative.
BYOD – Bring Your Own Demographics
Monday, February 6th, 2012
For the very first time, today I visited an ad-supported blog and noticed that with 100% accuracy, I was served ads for things I was looking at over the past few weeks – business and personal – all mixed together. Cool, right? Relevant right? Well not exactly. Too late boys & girls – I’ve moved on. Looking for different things now (bought/renewed all I was going to).
Being me, I decided to click on the DAA’s Ad Choice icon and then through to Google’s ad profile/privacy manager page to check things out. I will say that having the icon does make it easier to find, review and edit your Google profile. For that much I am grateful – thank you Google and the DAA.
But wait. Much to my surprise I found out I am 35 – 44 year old male! Really? Guess I’ll need a few things – maybe some ballroom jeans? I’d order up some “online goodies” if I knew what they were (even Wikipedia, doesn’t know). What do you think – a bearskin or zebra shag rug for my bachelor pad? They don’t assign a marital status, but what are the odds that I’m married if I’m looking for a job, totally into money, playing with electronics and hanging out online with my 1500 closet friends?
My Google Ad Profile as of Today:
Bottom line, Google’s ad network does not know me.
My categories are accurate, but their profiling assumptions need some work. Am I interested in computers & electronics or do I work in the IT industry? As a marketer, I think that matters – it goes to intent to buy – or not. I’m not looking for a job, I use job listings as triangulation points to see what industries are equipping mobile workers with tablets and smartphones (it’s becoming a recruitment perk and helps mitigate the other BYOD issues). Somehow they missed all my travel research – now those ads I might actually respond to.
Because online consumer privacy management is so binary (track/do not track) and most businesses are not yet using our Choice browser, I guess I’ll just hit Johnny’s Cigar Bar, hang with the boys plan a 45th birthday golf trip to Hawaii while I wait for my online, transgender surgery to be reversed. Later…
Simplifying BYOD Support for Mobile Web Access
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Every business is different and for most, their mobile strategies are still being formed. The BYOD phenomenon is forcing IT and Compliance organizations to move quickly. They must backfill the gaps associated with both cross-platform and personal vs. business mobile Web performance, privacy and personalization needs.
Typically, the first step to mobile enterprise support is Mobile Web Access – regardless of whether or not the content has been optimized for mobile users (that browser Zoom feature comes in really handy). Based on Aberdeen Group research in 1H11, the only 100% adopted mobile technology across the enterprises that they interviewed in 2011 is the Mobile Web. Source: Riding the Tiger of Mobility and BYOD for Better Enterprise Security webinar, January 26, 2012.
The Choice™ Browser is designed to let each business determine the best way to manage privacy, performance and personalization. If you are formulating or evolving your mobile strategy or are just trying to play BYOD catchup, I encourage you to subscribe to the 3PMobile® YouTube channel to learn how enterprise browsing can help your business manage its 3Ps in today’s BYOD environment. If access and policy management is your first priority, keep watching for some great ideas on how to extend your rules engine to support mobile Web users.
Mobile Web site performance testing on a real device (vs.. an emulator)
Thursday, January 19th, 2012
Just a quick post on Improving the Mobile Web Experience by measuring in real time how fast your Web site loads on a Mobile device. Note the huge difference in time when testing on an emulator vs. the real device.