[Air-l] social network migration

[Lisa Jo Elliott, M.A.]

I agree with you, Gail. After spending a year as a usability engineer 
for a company that produces enterprise database software primarily to 
banks, two things became very clear. First, software that stores 
personal data is constantly changing and built in a Rube Goldberg-like 
fashion by the enterprise/organization using the software. The technical 
and development abilities within these organizations varies widely with 
some organizations being at a greater risk of a security breach because 
of the quality and experience of their technical staff. This seemed to 
be a function of the quality of recent computer science graduates 
available to the organization and less a function of managerial 
practices.  Second, personal information is treated as any other 
information inherent to the business' operation. Compliance with 
government regulation is taken very seriously by the technical folk who 
manage the information, but the wider implications of personal data 
accessibility and unanticipated paths of data loss are not a 
consideration in day to day operations. In their opinion, data is a 
business commodity meant to be sold and shared. Subsequent to my year's 
experience, I have become very selective with where I do business and 
what spelling of my name I wish to provide. I feel that regulations 
should have been in place decades ago, before the "cat was out the 
door".  Future regulation and research may wish to consider the effect 
of the new personal information regulations in the UK and the 
technological restraints it has placed on banking growth.
Regards,
Jo Elliott