In Blog Post, Guest Post

Privacy’s the Goal

As an AV user, I have to say I don’t think much about the topic of security, I guess I just always naively assume that someone else is taking care of it, everyone I deal with is honest, and/or “I don’t have anything to hide”. The latest episode of SDVoE LIVE!Network Safety for AV Pros” was eye opening. There are cameras and smart devices everywhere and growing possibilities of facial recognition and biometrics recording.  When and where is there a “reasonable expectation of privacy” and what are the tradeoffs I’m making by using my devices?  AV system designers, integrators, and tech managers need to think about these things and how to educate their customers while protecting themselves from liability when things go awry.

Josh Srago was the perfect guest for this topic. He’s an award-winning audiovisual professional whose career has spanned all aspects of the AV industry – end user, manufacturer, contractor, and consultant – giving him the broad experience to understand the interests associated with the varied members of the community. As the technology became more dependent on network technology, Josh saw the best way he could contribute would be to focus his efforts on translating the evolving tech policy landscape, including net neutrality, privacy and cybersecurity, to the audiovisual community and share its needs with policy makers. He went back to school and recently graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law. You can connect with him on his LinkedIn page or see some of his more recent thoughts on Twitter (@JSrago).

Early in the show, Justin and Matt brought our attention to two industry articles. Privacy and Digital Signage by Carolyn Heinze of Systems Contractor News, which emphasized the need for organizations to have sound, transparent policies that are well documented and communicated. Justin also asked whether we’ve made any progress in the six years since Scott Tiner’s piece “Privacy Concerns” appeared at rAVe [PUBS]. What do you think?

Matt showed us a short clip from a new SDVoE Academy course “Basic Security and Privacy Requirements for AV over IP” that covers the key issues and the roles AV devices, the IT network, and user behavior play in providing a trustworthy environment for information sharing and collaboration. For safety’s sake, and to comply with many organizations’ IT standards, AV-over-IP systems need to implement three security measures – encryption, authentication and vulnerability scanning. Without these, your AV and control data can be wide open to theft. This course explores these important concepts.

Josh answered lots of questions in his interview with Justin and even more in the aftershow. Clearly, this is an important topic of growing concern to consumers and AV professionals alike. I know I’ll be paying more attention to my behavior when it comes to data privacy and security.

Next up on SDVoE LIVE!

Join us on April 20 for “Practice What You Preach”. In business, you are ultimately selling yourself (and maybe products too). AV pros can and should be held to a higher standard when it comes to presenting remotely using – you guessed it – AV technology! In this episode we’ll pull back the curtain a bit to show how we deliver SDVoE LIVE! and SDVoE Academy. We’ll chat with Tim Albright about what makes a presentation engaging, and offer some tips and techniques that are easy for anyone to use for making their interactions more effective in a socially-distanced world. You’ll know Tim as the founder of AVNation, the driving force behind the AVNation Network, and the current CMO of Conference Technologies. His career has taken him from broadcasting to designing and programming AV.

In case you missed it

Previous episodes of SDVoE LIVE!, the aftershows and additional resources are waiting for you, whenever you have time to indulge.  Sign up for a free SDVoE Academy account, if you don’t already have one.

About The Authors