Opinion: You Say 'shameful Secret,' I Say 'privacy'
Multinationals may need to shift gears on how they talk to their employees about privacy if they want to lock down their offshored data.
Another way is to express privacy as an instrumental good for the larger group rather than an individual right. For example, "Protecting data privacy is good for our company because it gives us access to new markets"; or, "Privacy is good for society because it elevates the level of respect and decency"; or, "Privacy is good for our country because it increases our respect around the world."
The good news is that global change and convergence is already under way. In many of the collectivist countries profiled above, economic progress is expanding the average person's living space and creating more opportunities for solitude. News of data breaches is also sensitizing citizens who previously trusted their larger groups to the dangers of information sharing. The emergence of breach-notification laws in these countries could accelerate popular demand for enhanced data-protection laws.
And whatever we call it, knowing about what is happening to our personal data is something everyone can sign up for.
Jay Cline is a former chief privacy officer at a Fortune 500 company and is now president ofMinnesota Privacy Consultants. You can reach him atcwprivacy@computerworld.com.
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