Internal costs of a reorg

All companies need to re-organize internally, it is a logical part of growing and changing; I am a strong believer that life IS change, and what we can't prevent we must embrace. Change is the world's only constant; its opposite isn't stability... rather immobility, or death.

That being now out of the way, every change come with a price tag, and we have to carefully evaluate if the cost is something we want to pay now, if it is better postponed, and how it should be prepared for, communicated and managed.

The lithany of a travel prisoner

Having loaded my beloved mini ipad with books to kill a full day of enslavement in planes, airports and other means of public transportation, I usually manage to transcend the mundane situation and place myself on a different planet, yet some recent rather uncomfortable business- and personal-related flight have made me think.

(Image from http://nyceducator.com/2006/09/children-first.html)

Really, isn't modern air travel just a modern version of a XIX century Orient Express in 3rd class cattle train? 

Uh-oh, are we almost ready to get all off Linked-In???

Technically, it is quite a wonder.

The newest brain-child of our rolodex provider is called Intro. Read here the details of this seemingly little app. LOOK in this picture how it innocently adds details about the senders of your mails INTO the emails themselves? how does that magic works? well, it seems to work by becoming the middle man for all your mails.

Another interesting read is here, looking at the potential consequences of this app, legally and regarding privacy. I am particularly fond of a couple of the questions proposed by this article.

• In position number one, we find "Attorney-client privilege", but in fact what is questioned here is the focus on sensitive material that you may be exchanging through your mail - with your insurance, with your bank, with doctors, with your lawyers. Yes. For instance "Hospitals and health systems are responsible for protecting the privacy and confidentiality of their patients and patient information" (HIPAA Guidelines), and it is a good thing. Doctors cannot disclose any part of conversations you have with them, unless you specifically request them to, and sign a release. Discussing your condition by email now could make a leak possible, and your health provider could not be blamed.
• Toward the end, point number 9. The understanding of what is private to each of us is, well, a private matter. LinkedIn, nor anybody else, should take this decision on your behalf. 

The saving grace of all this is that Intro is (so far) an additional app that you have to volontarily install on your Iphone and/or Ipad. Once installed, it creates a security profile and a special email, ready for syphoning. 

So the solution is quite clear - just don't even think to install this wonderful new product, and lets all keep an eye on how it all proceed... after having been an early adopter, I am ready to quit LinkedIn if a tool like Intro makes its way into the main app. 

It ties in quite nicely in my previous blogs about Data Privacy HERE and HERE

As BishopFox says, If I were the NSA, and I hear mobile phones were routing their emails through LinkedIn…well I know where I’m having my next birthday party.