A Strategy for Operationalizing Privacy by Design

Recent controversies surrounding privacy have sparked a move by regulators toward the idea of privacy by design (PbD), a concept pioneered by Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian. Industry has also started to recognize the importance of taking privacy seriously, with various PbD corporate initiatives currently underway. However, some commentators have criticized PbD for being too vague. Using three case studies and a range of best practice examples of PbD, privacy impact assessments (PIAs), and privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), this article addresses the gap between the abstract principles of PbD and their operationalization into more concrete implementation guidelines for software engineers.     

Creating value in ecosystems: Crossing the chasm between knowledge and business ecosystems

Policy makers take initiatives to stimulate knowledge ecosystems in technology hotspots. It is implicitly assumed that these ecosystems will lead to value networks through which the participating companies can realize a competitive advantage. Value networks refer to business ecosystems where the value proposition is offered by a group of companies which are mutually complementary. The strategy literature suggests that business ecosystems lead to competitive advantages for each of the partners in the ecosystem. Based on a unique hand-collected database of 138 innovative start-ups in the region of Flanders, we analyze the knowledge and business ecosystem and the financial support network. We find that the knowledge ecosystem is well structured and concentrated around a number of central actors while the business ecosystem is almost non-existent at the local level. Further, we find that the financial support network is almost 100% publicly backed and fails to bridge the knowledge and business ecosystem. The implications for policy makers who tend to focus on the development of local ecosystems are discussed.     

The impact of childhood foster care and other out-of-home placement on homeless women and their children

OBJECTIVE: This study compares homeless women who had childhood histories of foster care or other out-of-home placement to those who have not. METHOD: A countywide probability sample of homeless women (n = 179) received structured interviews. RESULTS: One-third of homeless women reported being raised apart from their parents. Among women with children under age 18, most (61.5%) had children who had lived in foster care or other out-of-home placements. Variables associated with homeless mothers' children living in foster care or other out-of-home placements were: Child was school-age, mother was age 35 or older, mother had a current alcohol or drug use disorder, mother experienced childhood sexual abuse, and mother ran away from home (when under age 18). CONCLUSIONS: Parenting is difficult for homeless mothers who may need to place their children with others to facilitate school attendance. Parent-child interaction may be problematic in family shelters where privacy is rare. Thus, programs promoting family preservation for homeless mothers should provide parenting support as well as permanent housing.     

Teachers and Speech and Language Therapists Working with Children with Physical Disabilities: Implications for Inclusive Education

Jannet A. Wright and Myra Kersner, senior lecturers in the Department of Human Communication Science, University College London, consider the practical implications of recent policies for teachers and speech and language therapists working together in inclusive settings. Their conclusions complement McCartney's ideas in the previous article.     

Developing a Socialist‐Feminist Vision on Education: conference report of the Women for Socialism,Women and Education Dayschool,held on 7 October 1989

Education has been the subject of much debate during the late 1980s. The Education Reform Act 1988 marks a major shift to the right in central government approaches to state education. However, despite these changes there has been little attempt to develop an alternative vision of education not founded in the ideology of ‘the market’. In 1989, Women for Socialism held a conference which brought together socialist‐feminists to begin the process of building a vision of an education system which would challenge the oppressions of class, gender and race.