On today’s @OracleIDM / @embedprivacy #PrivQA Tweet Chat, much was said about the right of individuals to control how their data was being used. I posted the following statement:

Privacy is freedom to decide how my data is used. Security is the mechanism to enable and protect that freedom of choice. #PrivQA

While our primary focus on the Tweet Chat was on the collection and care of data, I learned today that there is another major movement, primarily in Europe, about a proposed “right to be forgotten.”

According to an article in The Guardian, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, professor of internet governance at the Oxford Internet Institute, describes himself as the “midwife” of the idea of the right to be forgotten. He advocates:

an “expiration date” (a little like a supermarket use-by date) for all data so that it can be deleted once it has been used for its primary purpose

Mayer-Schönberger cites research that shows: 

90% of the 60+ generation want this … 84% of 18- to 24-year-olds – those born into the digital age … want the right to be forgotten to be legislated

Furthermore, he claims:

it’s not just about the legal, moral and technical arguments – but about what it is to be human.

That’s pretty heavy, but worth thinking about.

On a lighter note, I received a tweet today that clearly shows something that Dwight Howard of the Los Angeles Lakers would prefer we all forget:

Dwight Howard has missed more FTs this season (332) than Steve Nash in his entire 17-year career (322)

Wow! That is worth remembering – or forgetting – depending on your point of view.