I had the opportunity to attend the WIRED Business Conference, Disruptive by Design, on Monday 06/14/10 as a guest of Altegrity Risk International (ARI) Chairman Bill Bratton. He was one of the featured speakers at this conference. WIRED magazine is one of the most respected technological magazines of all time, and is touted as the first truly on-line international publication. Naturally, they are a good fit to oversee a conference focusing on the disruption of current and trending technologies.
Bill Bratton did a live interview during the conference… live in the fact that it was posted and sent out to all of WIRED’s subscriber and partner networks. As one of the nation’s most renowned law enforcement leaders, due to his success in both NYC and LA where he served as police commissioner and chief of police respectively, Bill Bratton was a natural choice for a conference of this kind. The main reason? A great deal of his success was due to crime busting system he pioneered called CompStat. CompStat is an analytical solution that provides real-time intelligence to law enforcement personnel in the field, and in the patrol car, so they can attack hot spots of criminal activity. As Chief Bratton explained how he used “push-pins” and “transparent charts” in CompStat’s early days a hush fell over the tech savvy crowd. Bratton then detailed how in the early 90’s he began to use a top-of-the-line computer for the day, which he purchased from Radio Shack. It was a Commodore 640. This drew applause from the audience and marked Bill as “one of those pioneers of the good old days.”
The method of attacking little crimes in neighborhoods is one of the CompStat systems key components and a big reason for the success of this law enforcement, crime busting ideals. During the interview with Chief Bratton, WIRED contributing editor Noah Shachtman, who also works at the Brookings Institution, kept prodding Bill with questions about the authenticity of the data surrounding CompStat. Shachtman directly asked the Chief how he could be certain the data was not being manipulated. Bratton, hesitated for just a second then replied that they “killed anyone who manipulated the data.” The auditorium erupted in applause and laughter, an outburst from the audience that had not been seen or heard at the conference.
Bill Bratton did an excellent job of demonstrating how “old school” police work with an analytical and accountable system better known as CompStat has effectively reduced crime. One of the best compliments Chief Bratton received was from WIRED Senior Editor Jason Tanz, who sat next to me during Bratton’s interview. Tanz at one point mentioned to me “this guy is great.”
What exactly is considered private when it comes to social media and social networking? Since becoming involved in social media about a year and a half ago I have been a little astonished at what people share about themselves. MySpace has been the social networking website where both men and woman pushed the limits on how much skin is showed in uploaded pic’s. Seems like Facebook has surpassed MySpace with lack of clothing pic’s due to the shear number of users 465,564,340 (via http://www.checkfacebook.com/) and the numerous men and women in their undies, bikinis, or less.
I am not a prude and am not against girl’s in bikinis (not into guys in underwear), but there seems to be a lack of modesty and forethought when it comes to information (pics, videos, crazy status updates) being placed on social networking sites. Once information is placed on the web, you should assume it will live on the web forever, yes forever. People can save any images or text with a simple right click of a mouse and don’t assume because your privacy settings are set on Facebook or other social networking sites that any of your risque information won’t show up on the web (so called friends can share your information).
Another security/privacy issue to be considered while participating in social media/social networking is GPS location services. Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook, and most other social networking sites allow you to provide your GPS location. As a retired police officer I do not think this is the best of ideas for personal security reasons. There are websites like pleaserobme.com that are placing your GPS locations on their website once caught off the web from status updates along with the fact that you are not home encouraging criminal activity or at your residence i.e: burglary because you are most likely not at home.
Below are 5 common sense tips on how to prevent from unwanted privacy intrusions:
1) Don’t share naked pictures of yourself unless you are ready for the consequences – Hmm, what will my parents or kids think?
2) Don’t put anything into a status update you don’t want recirculated on the web – My boss John Doe is a #$%^.
3) Ladies turn off your GPS notifications from all social networking sites so you are not advertising that you are alone at a bar at 2am – There are creepers on the web you know.
4) Don’t always trust a picture of an individual on a social networking site because they are attractive – Things are not always as they appear.
5) Don’t list your cell phone number on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking website if you don’t want your privacy invaded – Ladies really, weirdos will call you.
As social media continues to change our culture our definition of privacy seems to also be changing. What was private 5 years ago is now a profile picture on Facebook or a status update on Twitter that potentially millions of people can see. I am not throwing rocks from my glass house as I have violated my own common sense rules a time or two, but consider your privacy current or future when participating in social media and social networking sites. Mike Vallez
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