[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Current SAA Membership Information and the privacy issue



Dear Colleagues:

I just received, or just got around to seeing, my copy of the Current SAA
Membership Information card that has been sent out by SAA for validation of
member information.  I don't know if this is a new procedure or if I just
haven't noticed it in past, because I had no reason to update the
information.  As I've had an address change this year, I had reason to
complete the form.  It occurred to me as I was getting ready to post it that
the card is totally open, even though it contains information, at least some
portion of which many people would regard as personal and confidential in
nature and not something they would wish to have circulating in open form in
a day when identity theft is no trivial issue -- name and address, telephone
number, email address, signature.  Unfortunately, the card is of such
dimensions and design that one cannot simply fold it over and staple it
"closed"  to provide at least some modicum of protection of private
information.  I intend to fold it up as necessary and return it in a sealed
business envelope, and I highly recommend that others do this as well.

In another capacity, I'm on the Board of Directors of the CPSR.  Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility <www.cpsr.org> is a nonprofit, public
interest organization that addresses benefits and risks to society resulting
from the use of computers.  It is financed mainly by dues from an
increasingly international membership base.  The privacy issue is one of
several important social issues that CPSR monitors, whereby we learn about
abuses and risks.  It is one that Americans in general should be concerned
about, and many are.  Europeans enjoy much stronger privacy laws than we have
in the US  With modern, ubiquitous e-Business technology and networked
information stores, we are growingly at risk of having information that we
provide for one purpose being used for another, very much in contradiction to
the The Code of Fair Information Practices, developed by the US Dep't. of
Health, Education and Welfare, Secretary's Advisory Committee on Automated
Personal Data Systems, Records, computers, and the Rights of Citizens
<http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/code_fair_info.html>.

It is a subject that should be especially important to ARM professionals who
are privileged to be entrusted with personal and confidential information,
much of which citizens are required to disclose for specific services or to
meet legal requirements (driver licenses, census information, social
services, etc.)  Yet such information is sometimes used for secondary
purposes without the individual's knowledge or consent.

This experience reminds me again, as has not long ago been discussed on the
Aussie list, that privacy is apparently not very high on the ARM social and
ethical issues radar screen.  By nature and profession, we are tuned into the
sharing and reuse of legacy information, which we should be.  I'll be giving
a workshop for the Metro Omaha ARMA chapter Wednesday in which I will be
preaching that verse as it links ARM and knowledge management programs and
the business case that that linkage opens for ARM programs.  At the same
time, I feel that we will lose the credibility that is essential to the
success of our work if we don't also project an image (and follow through
with it) as professionals who can be trusted with personal information.  We
are all aware of the fact that in some states personal information from
drivers license databases is routinely sold to raise state revenues.  Whether
that is done by ARM professionals or not, if we do not speak out against such
practices both within our organizations and publicly both as individuals and
as professional associations, we should not be surprised if it gives us a bad
name.  If we are silent, we are complicit and accountable.  With the Heiner,
tainted blood and other such international cases involving the improper
handling of records our silence can be very damning to our profession.  Of
course I do not mean to characterize the SAA member information in the same
light as these cases (though these are important SAA records), but only to
use this as an illustration of our not caring enough about this subject when,
especially as information professionals, we should be at the front of the
pack.

Regards,

Rick Barry
www.rbarry.com

P.S.  It would probably save SAA money in the long run if the updating of
such information were done electronically for the bulk of members with WWW
access.  And I have no doubt about the place of electronic records on our
radar screen.

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>