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The free access that users had before this change will continue – forums and test questions will remain free and open to all registered users.  We are expanding our offerings a bit by incorporating the testing technology we’re developing.  We will also be consolidating article & posts with new material, creating a more coherent and user friendly prep guide.  More details on the new subscription offerings may be found on the subscribe tab.

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One of the things that’s come up during my CIPP preparation is the European Union’s approach to [...]]]> The Protect America Act. Another perfect example of how government regulations and piece meal privacy protections affect the American populous. And most of us don’t even know it. People check their credit scores, and deal with the occasional letter from their bank or TJX telling them their personally identifiable information was compromised. Sometimes a newspaper prints an article surrounding the warrant violations, or a case is sensationalized on Law and Order. Until now, the Internet was a safer haven.

One of the things that’s come up during my CIPP preparation is the European Union’s approach to personal privacy (European Data Protection Directive). They use what’s called a blanket comprehensive privacy law. Your information is private; if you choose to share that information, it is with that single entity. There are no third party marketing firms or fine print in your Mastercard cardmember agreements. And there certainly aren’t the sorts of lax definitions found in the PAA.

This all came to light with a recent paper on the PAA, “Risking Communications Security: Potential Hazards of the Protect America Act“:

The Protect America Act (Public Law No. 110-55)dropped the warrant requirement for communications (over any medium) of US persons located in the United States with persons “reasonably believed to be located outside the United States”.

That’s pretty broad, and could easily translate to friend of a friend types of communications (forwards, distribution lists, etc…) where through no fault of your own you become a person of interest. Because of the nature of networks and the Internet, you have to capture a whole lot of data to grab the interesting bits. Where do you store all that information, and how do you secure it? Policy protections should limit internal snooping, but they can only control insider access of those who want to play within the rules. And if you’ve done any reading, estimates have some 80% of all stolen information comes from the inside! Oops, that was your privacy slipping out the back door…

Over the next few weeks, I’m preparing for the Certified Information Privacy Professional examination [...]]]> Privacy and Information Security have always gone hand and hand. When discussing the three tenets of InfoSec (Integrity, Availability, and Confidentiality), confidentiality typically envelops privacy. In the networking/computer world, this privacy normally references encryption or separation (duties, networks, equipment, etc). I deal with these aspects on a daily basis, and the knowledge base for these topics and individuals practicing them is quite large (CISSP). However, as I’m quickly finding, there are unexpected elements of Privacy (compliance/regulatory, for example) where I am quite ignorant.

Over the next few weeks, I’m preparing for the Certified Information Privacy Professional examination offered through the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Hopefully, there will be a few details on my new Information Privacy blog that may be helpful to the community at large.