When Private Information and Business Concerns Collide
I often advise IT professionals of the need to step up to working with their companies as strategic advisors around technology-related issues. This means helping business folk understand the strategic and practical implications of new technologies — and recommending policies that make sense in light of what technology makes possible.
If the employer provides the phone — or mobile application -- to that person, what right does it have to that information?
That's a question nobody seems to be addressing at present — and that IT professionals would do well to raise with their organizations' legal teams. It's even unclear under which circumstances this information must be provided to state, local and federal governments. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department aimed (in part) at forcing clarification of these issues.
The bottom line? Social networking and communications technologies generate a host of ethical dilemmas — and IT folks need to be ahead of the curve when it comes to advising their organizations about the policy challenges they pose.
Johnson is president and senior founding partner at Nemertes Research, an independent technology research firm. She can be reached at johna@nemertes.com.
