Marathon Monday 2013, A Poem

In keeping with a storied annual a tradition that began with an inspiration born of the scorching heat that scalded New England last April, I've indulged my latent love for poetry and my regional proximity to the annual self flagellation that is the Boston Marathon, turning out humorous rhyme at the expense of that slightly more storied annual tradition.

Last year's inaugural verse was, if not my best, at least my second best effort. And so I give you the second installment.

Two Weeks Before Boston

(To the meter of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.)

Two weeks before Boston and all 'cross the nation
Runners were thinking of a race they'd be racin'
Their miles increasing, offering assurance
That legs would not fail for a lack of endurance
Kenyans were training in rarefied air
While the masses hit pavement less lofty than there
But each, from elite to those without numbering
Whether sprinting down Boylston or painfully lumbering
Dreamed dreams of being carried by a soft April breeze
Or of riding the Green Line like Rosie Ruiz

Irons and Irony

Every now and again I come across examples of behavior that illustrate the point that privacy is a difficult thing to regulate – especially in the realm of social media.

Yesterday, professional golfer Tiger Woods and skiing phenom Lindsey Vonn took to Facebook to post photos and confirm the rumors that they are a couple. As reported by USA Today and others, that news included the following message from Mr. Woods:

“We thank you for your support and for respecting our privacy. We want to continue our relationship, privately, as an ordinary couple and continue to compete as athletes.”

Let me get this straight: two of the world’s most famous athletes announce their relationship via Tiger Woods’ Facebook page, where he has more than 2.75 million followers, and include a plea for privacy?

Tiger Woods has proven himself to be tremendously adept at grasping his irons. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for his grasp of irony.

Privacy, Genetics, and Pandora’s Box

My last post, on the difficulties of regulating a malleable thing like privacy in the context of personal preferences and, especially, voluntarily giving up privacy for the greater good of medical research , takes on even greater relevance in light of this recent article in CSO about DNA hacking.

The challenges of maintaining privacy and securing identity are not a new development. Leaked search terms and de-identified marketing data have proven useful in precisely identifying individuals. Now it turns out you can be positively identified by comparing DNA samples provided by distant relatives with publicly available demographic information.

Looking into my crystal ball, I can see a response to this revelation that includes new laws and regulations aimed at layering further safeguards on personally identifiable information. Despite attempts to write protections into the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that would ensure the availability of data for the purposes of health research, that law still proved vexing for the medical research community.

While I am fully in favor of ensuring that individuals who do not wish to expose data related to private details of their lives have the information and tools to protect themselves, I’m also a realist. Some level of exposure of personal information is necessary in the digital age, and the government is one of the primary sources of publicly available personal data. In that regard, Pandora’s Box was opened long ago and simply cannot be closed.

Transparency: The Best Privacy Policy

I’ve long been an advocate of an approach to managing online privacy that relies on disclosure and awareness. Privacy, after all, is a highly personal thing and each of us defines privacy in a highly fluid context. I may be very protective of the financial details of my life, but willing to freely share medical information. Others, however, may be comfortable sharing more about their lives and decisions.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn and a host of niche players rely on the public’s willingness to share, and every platform grapples with the challenges of privacy management. Despite the inevitable complaints, the public participates because the benefits outweigh the risks. Reconnecting with family and friends; making and maintaining business contacts; telling friends – and the world – where we are and where we plan to be.

The transparency approach is one being employed by a social network called PatientsLikeMe, and given the site’s purpose, it’s a site that bears watching.

According to this article on HealthLine.com, PatientsLikeMe is “an online community founded in 2004, which allows patients to manage their conditions and connect with others who share similar experiences.” As the article notes, PatientsLikeMe has been give a grant from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation to conduct research that is predicated on its members openly sharing sensitive medical information about their lives.

The risk/reward proposition proffered by PatientsLikeMe is one of selflessness with a goal of providing information that researchers believe will help them reach faster, better conclusions about treatment outcomes for specific diseases and medical conditions.

Some so-called consumer advocates would argue that the level of sharing required for this project to be successful should be regulated into oblivion. I argue that the people in the best position to make that decision are the individuals making those decisions for themselves – as long as PatientsLikeMe, and every other social platform out there, makes it clear how the users’ personal information is used and provides both the knowledge and tools necessary to make an informed decision.

No More Hide in Plain Sight (Redux)

A year ago I wrote about how simply participating in the digital age creates a virtual trail of bread crumbs that can lead to a fairly detailed individual profile.

File it under the heading, "there's nothing new under the sun," but Raytheon recently released a data mining tool called Rapid Information Overlay Technology, or RIOT that makes the aggregation and analysis of those crumbs a lot easier. Given Raytheon's status as one of the leading contractors to the U.S. federal government and, in particular, the Department of Defense, and you don't have to be named Kreskin to predict who the target market for RIOT might be.

It's good to remind ourselves from time to time that, as much fun as social networking can be, there's still no such thing as a free lunch. And while we may blanch at the notion that commercial entities are scrutinizing our every digital move in hopes of selling us something, it's more concerning to me to think that my government may be/is doing the same thing, but for reasons more sinister and insidious.

Now, if you'll excuse me... I need to find where my wife keeps the Reynolds Wrap so I can go fashion myself a new toque.