Coby Royer, Technical Product Manager for Symplified

Bob Blakley from The Burton Group recently posted a great response to Andrea DiMaio of Gartner Group regarding privacy.

There are lots of great viewpoints expressed in Bob’s blog and comments, but I’d like to raise a perspective on privacy that is not fully addressed.

I’ll start with an analogy - fortunately, my daughter is not yet old enough to drive but I’m sure this story is a reality for many of you.

You loan your car to your kid. You set an expectation-either explicitly (you may go to the mall with your friend but only you can drive and you may not go anywhere else) or implicitly (previously communication or rules and/or precedent about who can drive the vehicle).

The expectation is a shared understanding of what may be done with the vehicle.

You take on a calculated risk based on the nature of the act, your ability to “know” that the expectation is fulfilled (visibility), and to incentivise the fulfillment of that expectation (the incentive can be a carrot or a stick-and can arise from friends, family, or i