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Got Database?

  • Presentations:
    • Jeremy Todd Cooper
    • Melanie Black
    • Allyson Silver
  • Wireless, from last time

General discussion: What's up with records in databases?

  • Garfinkle envisions a "database nation," in which everyone will have records about them in multiple databases, but with little or no ability to do anything about the data entries (or even to know they exist)
  • Who owns records about you?
  • What privacy expectations can you have about such records?
  • What level of data integrity and accuracy should be required? Does this changes for different types of data?
  • Who should oversee proper use of data about you?
  • Where do privacy and security policies fit in? Federal laws? State laws? Can we trust industry groups, such as The DMA and MIB, to look out for our interests?
  • How would your answers to the above change if you were an HMO executive? A database reseller? A spammer? A senator?

Some things To Do...

  • Take a look at your credit report (yes, it costs money [unless you were recently turned down for credit]). Any anomalies?
  • What other records about you exist in the public information space (e.g., via Web searching and public records)?
  • What other records about you exist in "private" locations such as insurance companies, rental agencies, credit agencies, etc.? How private are these, really (that is, under what circumstances will such records be made available, and to whom)?
  • Can you find any erroneous data about you? Can you do anything about the errors?

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UNC SILS
Prof. Greg Newby