Q&A With UBM Canon’s Director of Web Development Carlos Diaz: The Truth About Our Privacy on the Internet

Carlos Diaz is the Director of Web Development at UBM Canon and shares his expertise with me on the Internet; specifically certain dangers we face such as lack of privacy and hackers. He lives in Denver Colorado and has worked with web development teams for the last 15 years gaining awareness of the constant changes of digital media we face on a daily basis. In our interview he acknowledges the value of the Internet, but also recognizing the dangers of the Internet and the ways we can protect ourselves from the online world.

Can you give me some background information on your experience with technology (specifically working with computers)?

Diaz: I have managed web development teams for the last 15 years, Specifically in the Media Publishing business, Working with publishers like Simon & Schuster, McGraw Hill and Pearson Education and currently with a B2B publisher.

What do you like about the Internet?

Diaz: It is accessible to anyone with a computer and over the last 5 years anyone with a smartphone. It really makes information at your fingertips a reality for many across the world. Information is now accessible from just about anywhere in the world.

How have you seen technology change throughout the years? Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing?

Diaz: Yes, technology has changed dramatically over the last 25 years (my career in publishing and web technology) and I believe it is for the better of humanity.

With this change in technology throughout the years there can be dangers. What do you think are some dangers about the Internet?

Diaz: There are many dangers in the Internet. As we make more information available, some of it has to be secured, meaning only accessible to people qualified to safely manage that information. Secured access to information, such as banking, medical/health, financial and market competitive data has to be secured so that only appropriate eyes can see it. However, in today’s world we find very bright minds on both sides of the data safety challenge; some trying to keep it safe and some trying to compromise the safety of it.

Do you think there is a lack of privacy on the Internet? Whether it’s the Government having the ability to access certain information or cyber crime carried out from hackers.

Diaz: In my experience there is no such a thing as privacy in the Internet. In my profession we battle “hackers” on a daily basis, actually on an hourly basis. Hackers today are just as powerful as our developers trying to keep information safe. In essence anything that you make available on the Internet has to have a doorway for users to be able to access it, this fact in itself allows an opening for a hacker to access this information. It is very difficult in the Internet to be able to detect if the “user” accessing the information is a friend or foe as they both can have the correct key.

Are there certain things you do to protect your privacy on the Internet? If so, what are these things?

Diaz: Personally, I never put up anything on the Internet I would not want someone to see. As a business we do have to put information on the Internet available to business partners (our way of making money). We monitor security of that information 24 hours a day. We can react to an attack within minutes and block the IPs of the attackers within minutes. Some of these attacks can last up to 36 hours or more, so we have a series of highly trained technical employees who will fight the attack until it is defeated.

Do you think there is a possibility to end cyber crime?

Diaz: Not at all! In fact, the level of the attacks is on a scale which continually increasing. As we develop more sophisticated barriers to cyber crime, the criminals will in turn defeat these barriers. Today we actually go back in forth sometimes having a barrier for attackers to get through and sometime defending from an attack, which is more sophisticated than our defenses.

Do you think there will always be a lack on privacy on the Internet?

Diaz: Yes. This question is the equivalent of asking: do you think there will always be bank robberies? As long as there is something valuable to get, there will be people trying to get it.

How much privacy do you think we should be able to have on the Internet?

Diaz: The Internet is by its nature a “public” network. In a utopic world we may be able to say that the Internet should be 100% private, but that would be the same as asking to be able to stand in Time Square and asking for privacy. Private connections via the internet have to be P2P (point to point) with high levels of encryption, such as the ones you have when you log into your bank account via the internet, however even these type of connections can be compromised, albeit not easily, but they can be. Of course there should be more safety in conducting a banking transaction or transferring your health records, but again this is a P2P question. If as a user you choose to participate in a business aiming to make money off of your information (Facebook, Instagram Gmail, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.) then I believe you have little right to ask for your information to be private, unless you are willing to pay this business to keep it private, as we do with safe deposit boxes at a bank.

Have you seen privacy become better or worse with the growth of technology in recent years?

Diaz: Worse. Again, there is money to be made with people’s information, so you cannot blame enterprising businesses for trying to figure out how to make a business out of your information.

Do you think companies should have tabs on your recent searches so they can advertise to you on other platforms such as Facebook or any other website you use frequently?

Diaz: Yes, these are business which are not different from the supermarket in your neighborhood which keeps a tally of what you eat and how frequently, so that they have a supply on the shelves for you to buy. These businesses are not different from a company that conducts demographic studies to determine if a gas station should be build on a corner near where you live. While is true that some companies may use unethical means to get your information, it is mostly up to you to provide it or not.

Do you have recommendations for someone to better protect himself or herself on the Internet?

Diaz: Yes, first I would tell them not to put anything on the Internet they don’t want someone to see. Second I would tell them to dedicate a browser, which does not save cookies or sessions for any sensitive transactions. I would also tell them to ensure that their passwords are constructed in the safest manner; which is sentences. Unfortunately most banks and other sensitive holders of your sensitive data do not yet accept complicated password, such as a sentence.

What are ways you think the Internet should improve our privacy?

Diaz: The internet (if it was an entity) should make you aware of when your information is going to be shared in particular for business profit. Consumers (users of the internet) should be made aware of the risk they are taking whenever the decide to post private information on any business, like social media.