"People May Have Better Ideas" --President Obama 9 August 2013

What might those better ideas be and when will we see them.

First:  When might we see them?  Preliminary; 60 days.  Final report: End of this year.

Text quote from his remarks of 9 August:

"So I am tasking this independent group to step back and review our capabilities -- particularly our surveillance technologies. And they’ll consider how we can maintain the trust of the people, how we can make sure that there absolutely is no abuse in terms of how these surveillance technologies are used, ask how surveillance impacts our foreign policy -- particularly in an age when more and more information is becoming public. And they will provide an interim report in 60 days and a final report by the end of this year, so that we can move forward with a better understanding of how these programs impact our security, our privacy, and our foreign policy."

I am sure that what this report will say has already been designed.  Not by those that will be tasked to write it but by the information engineers that designed the system.

In his remarks Obama defended the system with a clear position on the problem being a PR problem that everything was being done right but people simply did not understand it but would know there is nothing wrong if they could understand it and believe like he does.

So, what is the silver bullet that will make all that appears to be wrong to really be right and ok?

What will permit capture and examination of every bit of communication data by the government and protect privacy?

Simple answer and the only one.  Clue:  It is not stopping the collection of data.

It is:  Separating the data from all links connecting it to any one, any entity, that originated or received the data as well as any links to those that may be associated with originators or receivers of the data.

In technical terms this is called Anonymizing data.  An old idea but even my google spell checker says the spelling of the word is wrong.  That is the verb form.  I should use the adjective Anonymized, which google also does not recognized as a valid spelling.  Maybe the process:  Anonymization of data.

If data is anonymized then it has no connection to anything except its own information content which has been stripped of any connection to the personal privacy rights of those it relates to.

Presto!  Like waving a magic wand!

Ahh, but here is the rub:  Collecting all this communication has one purpose:  Identifying the bad guys.  There must then be a golden key that (when authorized) will connect for intelligence purposes what was said to who said it when conditions are met to reveal that connection. 

A perfectly secure golden key to unlock an intelligence connection of what was said to who said it.

Obviously that key has to have limited access.  Snowden had a key.  Therefore almost all system administrators will be eliminated.  NSA will eliminate 90% of them. 

Hopefully they will eliminate them in a kindly manner, not with prejudice.  That makes that problem disappear.  Sysadmin is going to be a dying job.  Business will do the same for the same protection reason.

The finding of the group that Obama proposes will be Anonymization of data with absolute system control over personal privacy protection to the extent that only a selected public and transparent few can authorize the establishment of a link  between what was said (all communications captured, all data, all the time) and who said it.

This is more of a machine controlled, but human authorized system, certainly with some criteria that permit automatic machine operation.

Anonymization is a computer science that has already been applied to the medical world.

Google this phrase to find out who paid google the most to be the first hit that you see at the top of the page:  "medical data anonymization".

In return I got Treo Solutions.

I got Treo the first time but not the second time I googled the same phrase.  Hmmm...

Anyhow, look at what Treo offers:

Treo Solutions is a proven partner that enables payers, providers and government organizations to confidently adjust and adapt to changes in healthcare. By analyzing our enhanced data of over 45 million covered lives, our clients gain clearer insight, which allows them to improve care, control costs and foster meaningful collaborations.

Take a look at this Treo "All Payer Claims Databases" It is transparently the same information engineered model that the NSA must use for intelligence collection.  Many sources of information all related to a single identifier and then applying strict controls to analysis of anonymized data to assure no connections to patients information.  That is mining the data base without violation of medical privacy.

On the other hand some say there can be no such thing as absolute or even reasonable privacy in an anonymized data system.  I tend to agree.  There are always those that will benefit, money wise from personal information.  A strong incentive to seek it, get it and profit from it.

Back to the group that Obama says will investigate and report on how our intelligence system is to be validated to comply with the legal and privacy protection requirements:

They will, I think find the model in the medical world.  This is a technological privacy problem.  At about the same time Obama made his remarks he also met with the leaders of technology. 

I am sure that he challenged them to come up with a comprehensive information engineering model that sets the standard for privacy protection but also gives authority to collect all information all the time.

We need a new data information Bill of Rights.  Commonly being called "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.