BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT- Big Brother/Little Brother

On August 17, 1975, Senator Frank Church appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press to discuss the results of his investigation into the United States’ growing intelligence capabilities. He revealed shocking information and ended the interview with a warning to the citizens of the United States.

“America’s intelligence gathering capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left. Such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.”

After further comment, he went on to state in conclusion: “I don’t ever want to see this country go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that (the NSA) and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.”

This was prior to the widespread use of the internet, cell phones, and social media, so you can imagine what Senator Church’s reaction would have been had those technologies been in widespread use in 1975. While almost everyone reading this article has heard of George Orwell’s famous novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Big Brother, the Inner Party’s leader, not too many people think about Little Brother.

Who is Little Brother? Little Brother is someone you encounter multiple times per day almost every day. Little Brother is the great communications overseer who involves himself in many areas. Here’s how he works.

When you are at work and you are using your computer, your company has the right to monitor the information that you send or receive because you are utilizing company assets, such as their computer, their WAN, LAN, WiFi, or servers. Your e-mail, including personal e-mail, is not private in this case. Even If you use your own personal device, such as an iPad, and utilize your company’s WiFi network as an example, the company still has the right to monitor your information.

If your company supplies you with a company cell phone and pays for the service, they have the right to monitor who you are calling and who is calling you. The same thing holds true if your company reimburses you for your cell phone costs if you are using your personal cell phone for business purposes.

If you are in a coffee shop, restaurant, hotel, or airport and you utilize their WiFi network, that venue has the right to identify you and send unsolicited messages back to you.

So while there is great concern with Big Brother watching over you, you must be aware of Little Brother as well.

We have reached a point in technology where people must be very careful with their communications and be fully cognizant of the fact that others can access your communications and information, be it personal or business.

There is also the legacy issue. When you leave a company, your management will often access your e-mail account to look at past e-mails and to receive future e-mails. This is done to protect the business by monitoring and following up on key issues that might otherwise fall through the cracks. In addition, your personal e-mails sent and received, websites visited, and social media communications conducted via company assets are also viewed by management.

It all comes down to this. The word “anonymous” may soon disappear from our language, that is if Little Brother has anything to do with it!

John A. Bermingham is currently the COO of 1st Light Energy & Conservation Lighting. He was previously Co-President and COO of AgraTech, a biotech enterprise focused on chitosan, a biomaterial processed from crustacean shells (shrimp, crawfish, crab, etc), as well as President & CEO of Cord Crafts, LLC, a leading manufacturer and marketer of permanent botanicals. Prior to Cord Crafts, he was President & CEO of Alco Consumer Products, Inc., an importer of house ware, home goods, pet, and safety products under the Alco brand name and through licenses from the ASPCA and Red Cross. He successfully turned around the company in 60 days and sold Alco to a strategic buyer. Mr. Bermingham was previously the President & CEO of Lang Holdings, Inc. (an innovative leader in the social sentiment and home décor industries) and President, Chairman, and CEO of Ampad (a leading manufacturer and distributor of office products). With more than 20 years of turnaround experience, he also held the positions of Chairman, President, and CEO of Centis, Inc., Smith Corona Corporation, and Rolodex Corporation. He turned around several business units of AT&T Consumer Products Group and served as the EVP of the Electronics Group and President of the Magnetic Products Group, Sony Corporation of America. Mr. Bermingham served 3 years in the U.S. Army Signal Corps with responsibility for Top Secret Cryptographic Codes and Top Secret Nuclear Release Codes, earned his BA in Business Administration from Saint Leo University, and completed the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Advanced Management Program.