The Federal Trade Commission will host two public one-day workshops to explore the role of technology in helping consumers and businesses protect the privacy of personal information, including the steps taken to keep their information secure. The first workshop, "The Consumer Experience," to be held Wednesday, May 14, will focus on the technological tools available to consumers to manage and secure their information and whether and how they are using them. The second workshop, "The Business Experience," will be held June 4, and will focus on how businesses use technology to manage their information practices and provide security. The events are open to the public and attendance is free. They will be held in the FTC conference center at 601 New Jersey Ave., NW.

A Federal Register Notice, to be published shortly, states that although a number of technological products and services are available to help consumers and businesses protect personal information, it is unclear just how much consumers and businesses are using them and whether they are meeting consumer and business needs in this area. Therefore, "as more and more consumers share personal information online and use 'always on' Internet connections, it is useful to examine the current role that technology plays in protecting consumers' personal information." The workshops also will examine the changes that have been made in the security area since the FTC's May 2002 workshop on consumer information security.

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The FTC requests that interested parties submit written comments on the questions to foster greater understanding of the issues. Especially useful are any studies, surveys, research, and empirical data. Comments should be captioned "Technology Workshop - Comment, P034808." Comments must be received by April 23, 2003.

Parties seeking to participate as panelists should write to the FTC, explaining their expertise in or knowledge of the issues on which the workshop will focus. Requests can be sent to techworkshop@ftc.gov or Technology Workshop - Request to Participate, Office of the Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20580. Requests must be received by March 26.

Wired News: Microsoft Helps Secure Corporations.

SEATTLE -- Microsoft is developing new technology to help companies control their internal documents -- a move some fear could also stamp out whistleblowing on corporate wrongdoing.

The new technology, announced Friday, would let companies decide who can see, copy, print or forward e-mail and other digital materials. Access to documents could even be set to expire, so older files would remain encrypted and unreadable by anyone.

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But others see the technology as a threat to some of the best watchdogs of corporations -- their own employees. After two years of corporate scandals -- made public in part by employees' exposing wrongdoing -- whistleblower groups said they worry limited access to information could let companies get away with breaking the law.

"It sounds to me like just another way to restrict the free flow of information," said Joanne Royce, a senior attorney with the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit public-interest advocate for whistleblowers. "In a way it sounds like it won't hinder whistleblowers per se, because they won't even get to see this stuff."

Windows Rights Management Services will be based on XrML, an industry programming standard that can run on Windows and non-Microsoft platforms alike.