Coming Soon: Battles Over Academic Privacy — But Is This Fight Already Over?
How much is the privacy of academics worth? Judging by the behavior of most people, seemingly very little.
Rethinking Authentication, Revamping the Business
IP authentication is the most important mechanism for authorizing access to licensed e-resources resources. Substantial business and policy issues for libraries and publishers alike connect up to IP authentication. Today, there is substantial interest in eliminating IP authentication, so it is timely to examine the implications if we were soon to see its end.
Whither Encryption? Apple's Complicated Stand and the Security of our Systems
John Oliver looks at the complex issues surrounding the current battle over encryption.
Improving Privacy by Rethinking Architecture
Today, we grapple with privacy issues as consumers, as citizens, and as voters. As an industry, we should be thinking about how to draw not only on policy but also on technical architecture to balance privacy and innovation. When the stars align, an entirely different architecture for the control of user data is possible. What would such a shift mean for scholarly publishing and academic libraries?
Outliers and the Importance of Anonymity: Usage Data Versus Snooping on Your Customers
Late last year, Nature Publishing Group embarked on an experiment to allow users to share content. Some commentators accused NPG of using controlled sharing to snoop on customers. In this post, Phill Jones explores the difference between aggregated usage data and spying on users.
Big Sister: Some Beneficial Aspects of Collecting User Data
The collection of end-user data is going to become more important for all publishers and may serve to describe those publishers that will be most successful in the coming years. Although data-collection is often thought to be a malignant instance of “Big Brotherism,” it may in fact be benign when implemented thoughtfully.
The New Cluetrain — A Barometer for What Has Changed in the Last 15 Years
Fifteen years later, the authors of the “Cluetrain Manifesto” attempt a relevant update, with 112 new “clues.” Yet, they miss the biggest clue of all — the Internet is no longer sacred and its users know it.
Trust, Privacy, Big Data, and e-Book Readers
At the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, a pre-meeting session was held called CONTEC. This follow-up to the much beloved, but now defunct, O’Reilly Tools of Change conference brought together an interesting mix of leadership from traditional […]
Surprise, Surprise — The Web Turns Out to Be Too Persistent
The recent “right to be forgotten” case raises a corollary issue for scholarly publishers — are you managing your archives so that users have been given the “right to ignore”?
The Next Big Things?
Privacy, trust and managing the cultural record bubble to the surface of growing concerns.
Risky Connections — How Ubiquitous Computing and Connectivity Are Creating New and Hidden Dangers
Recent research into the risks of connected computing raise serious concerns — about personal safety, privacy, cyberwar, and cyberterror. We are at the early days of the Internet as part of the human condition.
Informed Consent and Big Data — With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
Consent and confidentiality concerns around “Big Data” in medicine should give enthusiasts for a data-rich scientific world pause. Things are more complex, and the answers so far are inadequate.
Fear-Mongering, Confusion, and Paranoia About Privacy — Are We Sweating the Small Stuff?
Privacy concerns seem aimed at the small stuff, but could expand into a system of censorship.
Privacy, Google, and the Reading Public
Privacy is something we trade in all the time. The questions are about the best trades to make.
Monkeys vs. Robots: The Mysteries of Identity in the Age of Facebook
Facebook continues to try to redefine identity as an addressable single element for its business model. Should we monkeys allow it?