RE: do we have a right to be forgotten?

Hi all,
 
>> 	Do we have the tools to be forgotten?
Here are some thoughts, I don't know if it's usable in any context.

I proposed such a tool 3 years ago in my company but the usual comment was that someone could always make a copy of a content on another computer.
So the question was how to make it impossible to access a stored content after some time.

It was --at that time-- difficult to make a privacy policy engine at the application level that works even for someone really determined to intercept a content. Even if such privacy policy engine uses a driver to manage protected content at kernel level it was ineffective to specialists.
I.e. most computers used Windows XP at that time and it's easy to copy even protected content by implementing a driver that intercept the content before it comes to the video or sound card.

Now more and more computers use DRM implemented at the OS level. This trick about creating drivers to intercept content is now impossible. So it's possible to implement policies that really make things unaccessible after some time. For example Microsoft implemented such DRM starting from Vista (2006). 

Analog signals were an easy way to copy a content but now as HDMI/HDCP is quite common on devices it also possible to protect a content from people that try to circumvent a privacy policy.

Privacy enforcement tools that rely on OS DRM are (IMO) an opportunity for the browser industry.

Best regards,

Jean-Pierre



-----Message d'origine-----
De : public-privacy-request@w3.org [mailto:public-privacy-request@w3.org] De la part de Karl Dubost
Envoyé : mercredi 20 avril 2011 00:50
À : David Remahl
Cc : public-privacy (W3C mailing list)
Objet : Re: do we have a right to be forgotten?


Le 19 avr. 2011 à 17:33, David Remahl a écrit :
> I think that a society that remembers is likely to become much more forgiving, owing to sheer necessity and survival value.

"I think" is the core of the issue and what thing we will have to remember during the workshop. For having lived in 3 different continents: Canada, France and Japan, I have met very different notions of what is good for the society or not and with very diverse expectations about what should be said or not about someone. 

The tools, technologies, we create have definitely impact on the society.
We have to be careful that they are flexible enough to adjust to different types of social, cultural scenarii. 

So to rephrase a bit what rigo said: I would replace the "right" by the "tool" to be forgotten. (what I usually call: opacity. Can I control the level of opacity from transparent to completely obscure.)

	Do we have the tools to be forgotten?


For example, I'm glad that I can at the same time let people browse my web site without login and password but block search engines bots. 
http://www.la-grange.net/robots.txt
(It should be easier to do it for anyone.)


--
Karl Dubost - http://dev.opera.com/
Developer Relations & Tools, Opera Software

Received on Wednesday, 20 April 2011 07:43:56 UTC