The recent news about National Security Agency (NSA) programs to gather data on millions of Verizon customers reveals how technology hides the existence of data. If you read Sun Microsystems’ recently released white paper on fiber optics, you will see that the technology they’re using is largely identical to the technologies used by phone companies. That’s because fiber optics is widely understood and used, for communication; it’s not well understood for computer networking. It hides the fact that information travels in a different form than you think.

As an example, Verizon is building out its own proprietary technology to move information between its network of retail stores, from one location to another. How does that work? In fact, you probably don’t even realize that it’s happening-you just go somewhere and get some information, like your account balance. The technology which is being developed hides the fact that information passes through many different technology nodes.

• There are multiple layers of technology, which combine to provide the illusion that the data traveling between you and the store is actually traveling faster than the speed of light.
• That’s not quite the same as saying that data is really moving slower than the speed of light.
• Nor is it true that if you’ve been reading about fiber optics then you already know how the system works.
• The company in question is trying to sell you on the idea of their technology being “more secure than fiber optic technology.”
• But in actuality there is no more secure technology than fiber optic technology.

Let’s be more specific. If your business involves keeping track of customer information-whether it be sales figures, loan information or even customer service issues-then you need very accurate records. If your company’s IT department is spending hours programming their network to handle massive amounts of traffic, then you have to wonder if the company is hiding something. If you’ve got sensitive company financial data, then you’ve got to wonder if the company is leaving no stone unturned to protect your private data. If you have employees carrying around thumbsticks with a digital pen on them everywhere they go, then you’ve got to wonder if these people are using encryption software to protect their passwords or if the digital pencil is so easily stolen that it can be used for anything other than writing information to the correct account.

All of these examples are just a small sample of the problems that come from hiding data. Even with the advent of newer technology and newer technologies, we still need standards. It’s simply not enough to say that the technology hides things because the technology is fast. Standards need to be followed and implemented. Unless companies are willing to spend the resources necessary for meeting those standards-which can be a sizable amount of money-than they’re going to continue to be viewed as ‘out of touch’ by customers and investors.

When we’re talking about business, we have to realize that there is a reason that technology was invented in the first place. And that reason is to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. Digital technology just makes it a lot easier to do that. But when the technology is so readily available for everyone to use without restriction, the exchange of information takes on a different meaning. Because no one can control who gets to have access to this information, the fact that everybody has access makes it a lot harder to restrict what gets transmitted.