InformationWeek

January 8, 2001

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IT Execs Speak Out On Technology

continued...page 2 of 2

More on politics in IT:

Undue Influence? (10/9/00)

Presidential Focus (10/9/00)

TechWeb: Ranks Of Privacy 'Pragmatists' Are Growing (12/7/00)

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Sibigtroth: With some of the privacy laws--at least from what I've seen with New York and some of the other states--is that early on, the government asked us to get involved in the discussions. They didn't want to come up with an onerous set of rules that no one could actually implement.

Bavoso: But we've got technology. Talk about customer-relationship management--it's nothing more than collecting an enormous amount of data about potential customers. As a business we need it and we think it's a fantastic asset for us. As a private citizen, when I put stuff on the Internet, I'm saying to myself, "Should I really be doing this?" On the Internet, it's kind of free range right now because there are no rules and regulations.

Carrow: But at the same time, we want to be a little cautious about goading the government for regulations.

Bavoso: That's the dilemma.

InformationWeek: There are some standards already--the fair practice standards. But studies indicate Web sites aren't following them. What will standards do if nobody abides by them?

Bavoso: That means there has to be some enforcement.

Carrow: We clearly have the capabilities to do that at the federal level.

Bavoso: But the methodology we can use to collect data is really different on the Internet. People may not even know someone is collecting data about them.

It's not a question of notifying or having regulations. We're technicians. We love technology and the ability to use it is fascinating, but where do you draw the line? When does it become legal or illegal?

Sibigtroth: I do see a change. Since AXA is a financial-services and insurance company, we're seeing a lot more focus on privacy. Our auditors are asking about our privacy policies. They're asking what we do in terms of letting customers opt out, how the data is built into the systems, what we do with the data. Do we sell it externally? How do we utilize it? We're also spending lots of time on the development of some consistent privacy rules on a global basis. It's tough, because you also have to consider other governments' rules. We were talking earlier about having our president work with other countries to get some consistency around the world. Clearly, that's going on in Europe with the European Union.

Carrow: They're normalizing the privacy picture across Europe; as a matter of fact, there's an ISO standard associated with it that provides some pretty good guidelines. It hasn't totally been accepted by U.S. businesses.

InformationWeek: One of you brought up enforcement.

Carrow: The cybercops. The president does have an intelligence community, and they're probably doing some of this already. I know that the FBI is involved in terms of viruses and things like that to try and pinpoint sources. So there are law enforcement agencies that are engaged and doing some policing.

Bavoso: It goes back to our discussion on having priorities and focus. The whole technology arena, and all of the good and bad that's associated with it, has to be focused. Not so much for regulation purposes, so that Big Brother is watching over everything. But certainly the government needs to work with the business community so it can police itself, which is difficult. Let's be honest. This is a capitalistic society, and everybody is looking for an advantage.

Carrow: Theoretically, all this data mining is supposed to make for a better customer experience.

InformationWeek: Do you feel that your businesses understand the issues and are safeguarding consumer privacy?

Sibigtroth: I believe we are. We're spending a fair amount of time with this now and will spend an awful lot of money on it next year, because we don't want the government to come in and start putting in place laws that might be too onerous for us to have to implement.

Bavoso: Because of the products we sell, we're fairly responsible. Most of the data that we collect is about what they purchase. There's really not a lot of private data that we have about our customers.

Carrow: As a company, in order to do business internationally, you have to play by the rules of other countries. So we're kind of self-policing in that respect.

Mark Goldberg Photo by Bruce Katz Goldberg: There's a group that Goodwill deals with that we haven't traditionally collected information on--our donors. We're looking to use technology to become more effective with that information, but again being careful and mindful. We won't be selling that information, but we'll use it to remind people we could use donations.

InformationWeek: What are some other issues you feel an incoming administration needs to be aware of?

Carrow: This whole area of E-government probably doesn't get the right level of leadership. Look at all the tremendous productivity gains that have been made with technology and the business-to-business models that have been created to allow for more efficient operations.

Goldberg: If we had voting online, we might have a president, as an example.

InformationWeek: Does the IT community have a solution?

Carrow: We've implemented things in other countries. In Brazil, for example, voting has been automated.

Sibigtroth: There's some online voting in some of the states out West. It's not a technological issue at all.

Bavoso: One of the guys who works for me said he could write a program to do online voting. It's really not magic.

InformationWeek: What would be your message to the president if you had a few minutes with him to discuss technology?

Goldberg: I would say let's attack the digital divide until every American has the opportunity to have access to technology. And work together--the government and the private sector--to train Americans to be computer literate, to be capable of higher-level technology jobs, which, as I said earlier, will improve their lives and improve their communities. There's still unemployment in the United States. Why hire another person offshore until every American has the opportunity to work? The technology train has left the station, and it can only enhance people's lives in the future.

Carrow: I'd say that the key to our economy and our international leadership over the last 10 or 15 years has been in the underpinnings of technology, and we should recognize that will continue for the foreseeable future. Therefore, we need to make it a political agenda item, an important aspect of the administration. We need to set the right policies, get the right skills in place at the national level to provide that leadership. And it starts at the top.

Bavoso: I would say put technology on the agenda, because I don't believe it's on the agenda. They talk about technology in ways politicians talk about what they would do for schools and the money they would throw at it, but that's not what we're talking about. It needs to be on the agenda as much as world affairs, as much as other topics now on the agenda.

Sibigtroth: It needs focus, and you've got to have a stra-tegic plan that you're going to stick with over a substantial period of time with substantial funding that helps both the economy and the individuals in the country. IW