The Fate of the Semantic Web Redux

I have been researching some (practical) "Privacy Principles" to use for eGov, and how they may differ from other venues.  I really like Chris Beer's idea ...

g) As mentioned at last telecon, developing a e-Government Utopia eg 
erehwon.gov.au (the classic "nowhere" backwards btw) site - a demo site 
of a virtual government and agencies to show how implementations of 
common standards and practices could be done.

It occurs to me that the classic "nowhere" does not quite apply here because Government employees worldwide have different disclosure rules, but all with swift and certain punnishments.  This sort of "Because I'm the Mom, that's why" enforcement spans any number of Theologies and Philosophies.  e-Government is the sort of "MultiUtopia" where the crimes are different, but the enforcement is similar.  Perhaps bitmtw.gov might be more appropriate :)

In any case, here is what I came up with:

Common Sense Project Requirements
1. A distinction between document resources and documentation for the purpose of identifying people. (example: between the subjects of two triples)
2. A distinction between people and groups of people. (example: as above, once removed, guilt by association)
3. A distinction between groups of people and formal groups, Institutions, Organizations, etc.. (example: actual association)
4. Some Content may be held in confidence for people or groups of people. (example: home phone number but not business phone number)
5. Data Formats which may by their nature carry data content styled as hidden or visible in common use. (example: "fine print", HTML meta tags).
6. Data Formats which may disclose data content that manipulation can reveal prohibited disclosures (example: statistical data with small, identifiable sample sizes)

Comments welcome.

--Gannon

Received on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 21:10:14 UTC