The Almighty and All-Important Consumer
Given the necessities of a magazine production schedule, I typically write my column a few weeks before its publication. This lead time has its constraints, the worst of which is that it's risky to make bold predictions; with the pace of change these days, new developments affecting my pronouncements may well occur between the time the column goes to press and the time you read it. This is especially true with a discussion of ever-fluid areas such as Internet stocks. However, in the spirit of living without a safety net, I'm going to take a stab at such future gazing, because the movement of serious money into Internet stocks has big implications for enterprise sites. CMP Network Computing
ReadA Sound Privacy Policy, A Sound Bottom Line
I try not to repeat myself. But you're obviously not listening. I really need you to do the right thing and fix a glaring omission on that expensive electronic-commerce site of yours. Back in the December 1996 issue of Network Computing, I wrote "Privacy Stewardship On Your Net" (see www. nwc.com/720/720colwalsh.html)</A>. My argument then needs to be repeated today: "You have as much responsibility for the privacy of others and appropriate use of data as you have for any other facet of the network infrastructure. For example, you probably have, or at least you should have, an explicit plan and policy for network security in place, likewise for the basics such as data backup. As network professionals, we spend our professional lives as the stewards of other people's data. The popularity of the Web exposes the fact that we have overlooked our most basic responsibility: the privacy of data." CMP Network Computing
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