Comments on: Red Coat, Black Coat – PSFK’s Privacy Forecast In PDF

By: Open Privacy on PSFK

Open Privacy on PSFK — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:03:46 +0000

[...] the technology blog in the Guardian, Bobbie Johnson hits on some Red Coat, Black Coat [...]

By: Picking Out Your Red Coat Using Identity Consultants on PSFK

Picking Out Your Red Coat Using Identity Consultants on PSFK — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:25:16 +0000

[...] those of you who are interested in privacy and personal identity, read PSFK’s Red Coat Black Coat [...]

By: Number9

Number9 — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

The issue I have with your characterization of Jill and Steve in “Postcard from the Future” is that Jill doesn’t seem to have really embraced any lack of privacy, so much as altered the manner with which she maintains it. Your explanation that “She manages the data about herself to present the image she wants” indicates that she is in control of her public image and presents it as she likes. In contrast, Steve is trying to avoid having any public image altogether, which I admit may become impossible in the future. The issue then, is not the death of privacy, since Jill is still capable of hiding parts of her identity (Maybe she wears blue underwear under those red clothes), but rather an active method of maintaining it: putting forth the public image one wants, rather than trying to erase one’s public image completely. The inability of outsiders to connect Jill’s public image to her actual identity is the point at which privacy “lives” and “dies”. Walking into a coffee shop and having one’s coffee ready doesn’t have to be a serious breach of privacy as long as we don’t use social security numbers or other official identifiers to indicate our presence (why not use OpenID or some equivalent?). Privacy is important, Mr. Fawkes, and it doesn’t have to die in the name of convenience. It does, however, have to adapt, and I’m not sure about whether society will be as able to manipulate their public identities with the same dexterity as does Jill.

By: Adrian Lai

Adrian Lai — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Great piece Piers. I never really gave Attention/Trust much thought, but reading this really clarified the concept for me.

Our lack of knowledge of how corporations use their data is certainly going to raise some very critical issues in the near future.

By: Piers Fawkes

Piers Fawkes — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Nice commentary Number 9. And as you read, this is ‘thought in motion’. I don’t have the answer but I like the simplicity of the idea of managing our identity in the same way we manage privacy. How we do this I don’t know.

Other interesting news and views on the subject:
http://bendrath.blogspot.com/2006/12/politics-of-identity-governance.html