Its 237 years since we got Independence…Are You Free?

This Independence Day there are mixed feelings about freedom and restoring rights. Data privacy and security have become a major concern for citizens, consumers and B2B companies. 

On July 4th 2013, thousands of people from over 50 cities across the United States will protest the surveillance methods used by the U.S. government. The campaign ‘Restore the Fourth’ is going to be held to raise awareness about the unconstitutional (in the spirit of the 4th amendment) methods of surveillance used by the U.S. government.

Privacy and security has become a big concern, even in the B2B context. Especially with new technologies emerging, companies are rushing to get on the cloud and moving most of their data onto servers controlled externally. And as mentioned in an earlier post, “in real life: if you put all of your data on servers someone else controls, then you can bet that someone will be looking at it." 

Forrester Research came out with an interesting interactive depiction called the ‘Global Heat Map’ on data privacy and protection.

People and organizations need to understand that the more information they share, distribute and circulate online, the more likely it is to be susceptible to external scrutiny. If data or information is publicly shared or even through a network, care must be taken to have security measures in place to protect it from being manipulated or misused.

So, this Independence Day, let us…

Be aware of our rights

Be proactive about protecting our data

Be positive in leveraging the power of technology

On a Lighter Note - Fun Facts about July 4th

• In July 1776 - 2.5 million is the estimated population in the newly independent nation.
• In July 2013 - 316.2 million is the estimated population of the U.S.
• There were 56 people who signed the Declaration of Independence.
• On July 4, 1776 - Only John Hancock actually signed the Declaration of Independence. All others signed later.
• Originally, the stars on the national flag (arranged in a circle) denoted the equality of all the colonies.
• “If Benjamin Franklin had his way, the turkey would have been the animal on the flag instead of the bald eagle.”
• “Barbecue is big on Independence Day, with more than 74 million Americans planning one. We eat around 150 million hot dogs and buy around 700 million pounds of chicken.”
• $3.6 million of American flags are imported to the U.S. each year, with most of them coming from China.
• Fireworks originally invented in China, is now a tradition on July 4th. In 2011, US imported $232.3 million worth of fireworks.
• The National Anthem tune was originally used in an English drinking song called ‘To Anacreon in Heaven’.

Now to fire up the barbecue and celebrate…

Happy Independence Day!