Interhack at Privacy by Design 2001

On December 3-5, 2001, Zero-Knowledge's second annual Privacy By Design conference brings together business, technology, and policy leaders from around the world to address the problem of providing necessary privacy protection. This year's conference is again in Montreal. A newsletter with program highlights is available from Zero Knowledge Systems.

This year's program includes Interhack founder Matt Curtin, discussing the relationship between privacy and security. Privacy By Design is an especially appropriate venue for this discussion, as the theme of the conference highlights the approach described in Curtin's new book, Developing Trust: Online Privacy and Security.

Since 1999, Interhack has been supporting research into the understanding the privacy consequences of Internet system design and implementation in its Internet Privacy Project. Interhack has uncovered numerous privacy failures in systems run by Netscape, DoubleClick, Toys R Us, and TRUSTe. A consistent lesson that can be learned from all of these failures is the need for privacy as a built-in feature, instead of as an add-on.

Interhack's Professional Services unit provides businesses and government the technical assistance they need to ensure that their handling of private data matches what's defined in policy and that they're compliant with relevant legislation, including HIPAA and GLB. Clients include Qwest Communications, the State of Ohio, and others that prefer to remain anonymous in the financial services, legal, and Internet service industries.