Recently, Novell vice president Mike Sheridan testfied before the Senate Judiciary Committee in hearings to consider Internet privacy issues. He also urged the government to let the private sector work on its own to resolve the privacy debate. You can read his entire oral testimony or read Bloomberg's coverage of the event. Privacy, however, is not a simple right. The power to maintain privacy is subtle, nuanced, and complex in operation.
Point of view is critical.
Privacy has different features depending on whether it is approached from the point of view of the individual, the community into which the individual has voluntarily entered, the community that claims jurisdiction of some sort over the individual, or, finally, some other person. In a networked society and economy, that information not only raises issues of rights, but also issues of value. The Guest Editorial Guest Editorials are an occasional feature on Novell's web site, where we invite selected leaders in technology-related fields to publish their ideas as the Lead Story. Your feedback on this feature is appreciated. You can also read what others have said in our Letters to the Editor feature.