Archive for December 24th, 2008

For my excellent Information Privacy course this past semester, I wrote my term paper on the Department of Homeland Security policy of searching digital devices, including laptops, at the border. I discuss the law regarding such warrantless searches, the specifics of the policy, and why we should oppose the ineffective and privacy infringing practice. The PDF is available here and an excerpt below.

“In the rush to search laptops, a more important question is missed. The debate is not security versus privacy. It is a question of liberty, of autonomy, and of human dignity. This was what Benjamin Franklin knew when he uttered the now famous declaration that “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” It was what Bruce Schneier recognized when he wrote, “The real choice is liberty versus control. Tyranny, whether it arises under threat of foreign physical attack or under constant domestic authoritative scrutiny, is still tyranny. Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy.” In a democracy, its citizens have the good fortune to know that the pendulum swings between opposing poles, but more importantly, they have the power to push the pendulum where they see fit. On the topic of searches of digital devices at the border, the pendulum needs pushing towards liberty.”

And here’s the Scribd embed:
Passport, Please. Password, Please.

A whole host of literature, notably C.K. Prahalad’s The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, has encouraged businesses, NGOs and others to approach the global poor not as charity beneficiaries, but as under-served consumers. By creating sustainable businesses, Prahalad and his peers believe that the poor can be empowered and employed, raising them out of abject poverty.

But how is a business to sell to the bottom of the pyramid if they don’t know where they live, what they want, or even who they are? Or, for more traditional aid activities, how does a donor know he is investing enough? Or in the right areas? Existing figures provided by the World Bank and other agencies are statistical projections.

Mobile Metrix, a market research firm founded by Melanie Edwards, has a better model. She employs local teenagers to go door-to-door in their own community, collecting data on handheld devices. The unofficial censuses gather information previously unknown – what she calls the “invisible billion.” In her speech at Pop!Tech, Melanie explains how employment keeps her teenagers out of drug violence and gangs, empowers organizations to fight disease, and educates individuals on how to help themselves.

[I took out the video embed because it didn't play nice and auto-played. Here's the link.]

It is a remarkable example of partnering with locals and using information to empower communities.

(By the way, I’m going through the Pop!Tech Fellows’ videos and recommend you do the same.)