Blog: Faithfully Online

  I was recently interviewed by Martin Spriggs and Sallie Draper from WELSTech on a variety of topics related to the book Virtual Integrity.

The podcast  covered slightly different ground than several of the other interviews on the book.  I realy enjoyed the conversional format, and I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts about the podcast.

The WELSTech Podcast exists to explore the use of technology to further the spread of the gospel. Episodes are released each Wednesday, and technology topics covered are very interesting and informative. Here's a list of recent topics:

Recent Episodes

• 072 - e-Me's and Virtual Integrity
• 071 - Electronic Church Doors
• 070 - Twitter…What’s It Good For Anyway?
• 069 - Enough Google Already
• 068 - Spending A Smarter Summer
• 067 - Geeking Out In Sallie's Kitchen
• 066 - The Five D's and W's

Any thoughts after listening to the podcast?

  This is just a short blog to highlight that Virtual Integrity is essentially a resource for Christians who want to learn about the many online threats and practical solutions to everyday situations we face in cyberspace.   

 Why mention this now? After many years working with technology experts in both the public and private sector around the country, non-profit organizations around the world and churches in Michigan, a friend recently asked me whether I could just give him a few quick and easy tips that Christians could follow. He wanted basic answers regarding cyberspace. His point, can you keep it simply simple?

 His question was hard for me to answer. Yes, I know about several top ten lists that can help. However,  I've been correctly quoted as saying that many popular tips will not work in the long run online. That is one reason I wrote Virtual Integrity. I often go out of my way to explain many of the complex and often confusing online situations and terms.

And yet, I have perhaps scared off some Christian friends who are looking for  new answers to online life. The book offers Biblically-based answers that will enable us to faithfully navigate the brave new web. Many people have expressed their thanks that the stories are in everyday language, not techie terms.  

No doubt, there are some great websites that offer helpful online advice. Chapter 8 of the book mentions nine of the websites that I have found most beneficial. Three of them include Safe Families, the Federal Trade Commission Website and Cyber Angels. While these sites offer great advice on protecting yourself, the heart issues are still central to our task.

In Psalm 141:4, David said, "Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds." One challenge as Christians is to recognize the often subtle ways that we tempted online. More than that, how can we proactively prepare for those situations?

As Teri Takai pointed out in her endorsement, "The book provides perspective, not just about security, but also about our role in the new world of using the Web as a tool for communicating, collaborating, creating, and utilizing information."    

Just as important, Tim Challies said, "Virtual Integrity deals well with issues related to Internet technology.... It would be well worth reading for any Christian who spends time on the Internet (which, by the very fact that you are reading this review includes you) and especially for parents who seek to protect their children as they explore the virtual world that exists before them."

 My point? You don't have to be an expert to read the book. It was really written for end-users. Nevertheless, I've received postive reviews from computer experts as well - who are often the most tempted. Virtual Integrity is really a book on the Internet for Christians and others who want to surf their values.

My thanks to those who have read the book. I'd love to hear your thoughts or any questions you have. 

 Microsoft launched a new website on End to End Trust a few weeks back with plenty of video clips from technology industry experts from around the world. The goal of this multidisciplinary initiative is to enable a safer, more trusted Internet. I encourage a visit to the site, and you can see my remarks by clicking on my picture at their thought-provoking site.

 Even though the online situation currently seems bleak for many people of faith, I am encouraged by the recognition that a "more trusted Internet" includes the need for surfing our values in addition to better security and privacy.  In my interview (which was edited for time), I described my "real world" expectations when taking my six year old son to the Disney Store at the local Lansing Mall in Michigan. Of course, I anticipate proper security while shopping and the needed privacy during financial transactions. But I also expect certain experiences which are in line with the values articulated by Disney and my family situation.

 For example, the pictures on the wall, items advertised for sale, clothes worn by sales representatives and even the music in the background are tailored for the audience - whether adults or children who visit. That same level of experience will need to become a reality as we progress with online interactions. Whether visiting online stores, checking out virtual worlds, searching the Internet or engaging others on social networking sites, visitors to cyberspace want their values to be respected. This same (opt-in) profile information can help reduce temptations and enable a whole variety of exciting new Internet opportunites that will help us.

 In fact, when Microsoft asked me to complete this sentence: "End to end trust means...."  My answer was very simple, as articulated in chapters 9 & 10 of my book Virtual Integrity.  End to end trust means you can surf your values - connect your offline values and your online world. We need to build an online future that respects a user's faith and beliefs as we enable new virtual interactions.

 When will this expanded vision of the Internet be a reality? I'm not sure, but I expect to see new interfaces into cyberspace over the next few years. Just as a camera lens captures one perspective of an image, new approaches can enable the many good things online by delivering just the content we value. Trusted partners will also help us to "disable the bad" or not deliver those items to us rather than relying on filtering alone.  

 What are your thoughts on "surfing your values?" Or, what are your thoughts on the video clips offered at the Micorosoft End to end trust website?  

 My thanks to Ric Tombelli for sending over a hot story from the Associated Press entitled: Cable's answer to online ad success: targeting.

 This is a fascinating article that points to the future of the Internet and TV. I'm intrigued by the scenario that starts off the piece:

You're watching Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show," when suddenly you see a commercial for the Mustang convertible you've been eyeing — with a special promotion from Ford, which knows you just ended your car lease.

A button pops up on the screen. You click it with the remote and are asked whether you want more information about the car. You respond "yes." Days later, an information packet arrives at your home, the address on file with your cable company.

This is the future of cable TV advertising: personal and targeted.

The article goes on to describe the pros and cons of new advertising approaches to target customers as well as corresponding privacy and fairness issues. While current ads are tailored to communities by using demographic profile information, such as average age and income of the neighborhood, future profiles will be built by household. Ultimately, I believe the targeting will get down to individuals.     

Many questions must be answered during these trials. Do customers get a say? Will users be able to opt-out (or opt-in)? What information can be shared?  Who gets to hold my data? Is my information secure? 

 While some will be alarmed by these new techniques, I describe scenarios in Virtual Integrity that go much further by the end of 2012. Chapters 9 & 10 described ways that you will be able to "surf your values" in both cyberspace and with your high-definition TV of the future. I also encourage an "opt-in" approach where users control how their information is shared and used in personalizing content.  

These events are moving even faster than I originally anticipated. There are many ramifications to these developments. No doubt, these new marketing techniques can be used for good or for evil. Christians and others who want to surf their values need to become engaged in helping shape how technology is used in positive ways that empower end users.  

Regardless of your views on these trends, get ready for targeted profiles to become the new normal in cyberspace. Why? As the article says, "There are signs that targeting works."  

  Last year I had the great priviledge to meet Mark Stencel. Mark writes the "Futurist" column for Congressional Quarterly's CQ Weekly. He also is the editor and deputy publisher of CQ Inc.'s GOVERNING magazine and GOVERNING.com, which cover policy and politics for leaders in state and local government.

I met Mark at Governing's "Public Official of the Year" awards in Washington D.C. in November, and I have been very impressed with his writing and his blogging. His personal blog is called "Assignment: Future." I was very honored when Mark asked me if he could interview me and highlight my book "Virtual Integrity."  

His interview, along with a few comments on the book, can be found at his Assignment: Future blog on March 23, 2009. I hope you enjoy the interview.

  A computer virus hit State of Michigan computers over the past week, and the situation became very serious for two of our government agencies. Check out this video from WILX  in Lansing, Michigan - which describes the virus and how our excellent government technology team responded quickly. Yes, I appear in this report (smile). I think the news coverage did a nice job of describing the situation as well as the business impact we faced, but this attack should also serve as a reminder to us all.   

  Varients of this "Virut" computer virus have recently hit businesses, governments and individuals all over the world. While I was down in Houston to speak at their SecureWorld conference, I saw this news report on their local ABC13 TV station. The video describes how Houston courts were shut down for days by the virus.  

 News articles have appeared describing other virus impacts, such as a computer website shutdown in Missouri.  

So what can be done? A Google search on the topic reveals over 350,000 pages of content, and many descriptions of the problems that can occur. Various remedies are also described, but many people are forced to rebuild their computers when hit with this bug.

 When this virus first hit our State, it was called a "zero day" virus, meaning there was no fix available. Symantec and other virus vendors eventually came out with new "virus signatures" which detected the virus and cleaned computers, but that took several days to complete.

  Which leads me to a few comments/recommendations for homes and businesses regarding this topic:

1) Viruses, worms, botnets, and other harmful malware still cause serious computer challenges today. A lack of attention to these topics will eventually lead to computer malfunction, data loss, identity theft or worse.   

2) Make sure you have up-to-date virus software on your computers. Symantec, Sophos and McAfee are just three companies which offer virus protection.  Many people don't realize that the "signatures" (or updated protection files) need to be refreshed regularly (usually every day) to be effective. This requires an annual subscription and not a one-off download.       

3) You must backup your data files on a regular basis. Whether family photos or sensitive financial data, a loss of files has caused problems and disappointment for millions of families around the globe. Set up processes to make this a part of how you manage your computers at home and/or work.  

4) My book, Virtual Integrity, describes the people, process and technology components you'll need to keep faithfully navigating the brave new web. This includes virus issues as well as moral and ethically behaviors. Having the right technology alone won't solve this problem. You must configure things correctly and enable the people with training and repeatable processes.

One final thought: the bad guys are getting better and doing a better job of hiding their exploits. If you think you haven't been hit yet, run a scan of your computer with a good spyware detection program. You may be surprised by what you find. 

What’s an avatar? I’m asked that question all the time.

An avatar is an online representation of you. One very simple example is how Yahoo! allows you to customize messages that you’re sending with a variety of different images.

When visiting online games like Second Life, your avatar goes in your place when you enter various virtual worlds. But in addition to playing games for fun, there are many productive activities available in virtual worlds. As mentioned in my book, experts predict that most of us will have avatars in the near future and use them as our default experience online.

These virtual visits can get fairly complex. For example, check out this YouTube video which provides an overview of Second Life.  (I like how they describe real-world websites as “old fashioned.”)

Okay, but unless someone in your family is into video games, why should you care about avatars right now? Consider this fascinating article by Evan Schuman entitled: E-Commerce Avatars that Match a Consumer’s Posture and Smile. Here’s an excerpt of the article:

E-Commerce avatars—computer-generated 3-D replicas of consumers with precise measurements to help purchase clothes that fit better—may soon use digital video to incorporate a consumer's posture, facial expressions and smile….

“People really want to go in the direction of more personalization,” (Mercedes) De Luca (Yahoo! VP of Global IT) said, but how far to go is a constant debate. Is overly detailed data too invasive? The answer, De Luca maintains, changes depending on context….

De Luca’s site is based on a premise that vendors have tried to do for years, which is to take extensive measurements of a consumer once and to then use that data to create a highly accurate computer rendition of the consumer to be used in purchasing lots of clothing….

There are many, many implications to this article, but clearly avatars will not just be for the games people play. Our real-world measurements will be used to buy things online. This article doesn’t mention the likelihood that values will likely be shared with others in order for them to know more than personal preferences such as color or style for clothes. Might this trend affect practically everything we see online? I cover this topic in more detail in the book Virtual Integrity.

Over the past month, our nation’s economic problems, historic election results, and the transition to a new Presidential administration have grabbed most of America’s media attention. At the same time, some intriguing (and scary!) headlines have emerged regarding online Internet behaviors.

On November 26, a verdict was handed down in the MySpace cyberbullying case. If you haven’t followed that story, here’s and excerpt from Fox News.

“(Lori) Drew allegedly helped create a false-identity MySpace account to contact Megan Meier, who thought she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named ‘Josh Evans.’

Megan, 13, hanged herself at home in October 2006 after receiving cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.”

This case has raised a variety of legal issues regarding Internet actions and the terms that users agree to when they log on to websites. For instance, a recent article which ran in the New York Times called “Guilty Verdict in Cyberbullying Case Provokes Many Questions Over Online Identity,” brings up the question, “Is lying about one’s identity on the Internet now a crime?”  

Here are two excerpts from that New York Times article: 

“While the Internet’s anonymity was used in this case as a cloak to bully Megan, other users say they have perfectly good reasons to construct false identities online, if only to help protect against the theft of personal information, for example.” 

“We’ve been telling our kids to lie about ID information for a long time now,” said Danah Boyd, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, at Harvard.

While there are huge implications to many aspects of this case, what concerns me most is the continued defense of lying by many of our industry “experts.” I’ve attended numerous conferences and seminars around the country over the past few years where lying (and other cyber indiscretions) were encouraged using the mantra “the ends justify the means in cyberspace.” Similar arguments regarding ethics are all over the Internet and starting to redefine right and wrong both for everyone both online and off.  

Excuse me, but is anyone surprised by the results? Get ready for a flood of cases similar to the recent MySpace trial all over the country in the coming years. Legal cases regarding web conduct will become the new normal. E-discovery (searching electronic documents for evidence) is already one of the fastest growing areas for law firms.   

Where does personal responsibility fit into this equation? Is anyone accountable for their actions anymore? Why are we surprised by the lack of ethics on Wall Street or scandals like Enron?  We need to get back to the basics. 

In my book Virtual Integrity, I make it clear that I am not against online anonymity, although we must understand that many risks develop by surfing anonymously. Nor am I against “play acting” in online games or virtual worlds—as long as everyone knows the rules, similar to a costume party in real life. But lying, cheating, and stealing are wrong. Online behaviors will absolutely show up in real life. I’d love to debate Ms. Boyd or anyone else at Harvard who honestly believes that training our kids or employees to lie on the web is best for society. And we’re trying to build end-to-end trust? 

Wake up America. We are witnessing the opening pages of a long book that could be called, “The merging of online and offline life.” Our web actions are affecting everything we do. Just as the police rarely accept lack of knowledge excuses if you’re caught speeding, our legal system is now adding our digital highways into the mix—and rightly so. Arguments like, “I didn’t read the MySpace rules” just won’t cut it.

What are your thoughts?

My book provides numerous online resources and tips from excellent websites (that are free and always up to date) to help protect families online. One website I send readers to is Safefamilies.org, which offers the following six rules to protect kids online:

1. Install an Internet filter
2. Place your computer in the family room or another open area of your home.
3. Publish a Family Pledge; post it by all computers. Review it with each child and have them sign it. (Download Family Safety Pledge Sample)
4. Know what your children are doing by: 
   a) Reviewing Internet browsing history.   
   b) Checking the “recent documents” for files transferred or accessed on disks. 
   c) Surfing together especially with younger children to learn how they use the web. Get to know the sites they enjoy and how they interact online. 
   d) Changing your child's homepage
5. Educate yourself around issues of online safety. Visit the Safe Families website at http://www.safefamilies.org.
6. Lead by example. Your children are watching you.   

So what’s the problem with this approach? Most people already know about these suggestions, apply them rigorously, and still run into major difficulties. In addition, plenty of books are already available which discuss detailed tips for safely using MySpace, Facebook and other Internet websites. But I believe we need to reexamine our entire online approach. 

Think of your experience or a friend’s experience with dieting. Many Americans want a quick pill to solve their problems without changing their habits and eating patterns. Others, like me, have gone on the Adkins diet and lost weight—for a time. Trouble is, I get tired of eating eggs for breakfast and never eating fruit and carbs. Bottom line, I can’t keep it up. No doubt, I always lose weight on Adkins, in some cases up to 20+ pounds, but I always gain the weight back within several months.   

My wife Priscilla offered this analysis: “It’s like the difference between giving someone a life vest versus teaching them to swim. Or, like giving them a fish (for one meal) versus teaching them how to fish (a meal for life). Your book is teaching them the skills, disciplines and habits to faithfully navigate virtual worlds and cyberspace for life.”   

Priscilla “gets it.” Although I offer many practical, helpful tips on virtual life in the book and tell plenty of security “war stories,” Virtual Integrity is not intended to provide a “quick fix” to your Internet problems. Like Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, my seven habits of online integrity are not easy. Nevertheless, they provide thoughtful answers to tough questions that most of us face online.  

Virtual Integrity is also intended to helps those of us who are older than 17 and treated by many books as “adults” who don’t need filters, accountability, or cyber ethics. It’s not that I disagree with the advice of other authors, but I believe that many approaches are far too simplistic in the way they deal with cyber temptations and activities that the Bible calls sin. What often starts as seemingly insignificant online mistakes will lead to much more. I’ve seen these behaviors in cyberspace destroy families, reputations, and careers.   

Welcome to my newest blog which I am launching alongside my first book, Virtual Integrity: Faithfully Navigating the Brave New Web. Over the coming year, Faithfully Online will offer commentary regarding internet trends and important events that are impacting society and shaping cyber ethics around the world. I also want to distinguish this blog from my other two blogs at CSO magazine and Government Technology magazine.

I'm sure that some of you are wondering: why three blogs? The simple answer is three different audiences. I started my first blog two years ago with CSO (Chief Security Officer) magazine. I was honored when CSO asked me to be their first blogger that was not on their editorial staff. "Lohrmann on GovSpace" has received quite a bit of positive coverage and feedback throughout the security industry. The primary audience is security professionals, including CISOs and CSOs around the country.

About a year ago, I started writing a regular "Security Advisor" column for CIO (Public Chief Information Officer) magazine. Public CIO is a part of the Government Technology magazine family, and articles from Public CIO often appear on the Government Technology website as well. In the late Spring of this year, Government Technology magazine asked me to consider become one of their bloggers as well. I started the "Securing GovSpace" blog in June 2008, and that blog is focused on security topics for state and local government technology professionals.

Which brings me to Faithfully Online. This blog will focus on tips and practical ways that Christians and others who want to surf their values can implement ongoing strategies to help practice your faith in cyberspace. Building off of the seven habits of online integrity described in detail in the book, I will be focusing my comments on current events and global Internet activities that affect cyber ethics.

For example, one hot topic right now is the recently released "Ten Blogging Commandments." A recent Google search on this topic yielded over 2.5 million page views. There are many opinions, pro and con, on the UK's Evangelical Alliance's attempt to bring Christian values to the blogosphere. I plan to look at this topic in detail next time. (In the meantime, you can read the comments I left at their website as well as others' comments on this topic.)

Finally, I want to hear your questions and comments related to the book Virtual Integrity and/or this blog. I encourage readers to share your views on these vital topics. I value the collaboration.