Features
The Man Inside the Bunny Suit
From biomarkers used in transaction IDs to Facebook use, business prof looks at privacy and security concerns
BY TERESA PITMAN
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| “It’s just too much fun,” says Prof. Michael Breward of his new faculty post. Photo by Martin Schwalbe |
He was the Energizer Bunny twice in parades and suffered heat stroke once as a result. Not quite what you’d expect to see on the CV of a newly arrived faculty member in the Department of Business, but Prof. Michael Breward explains that the bunny gig was just an added bonus of his former job as director of finance and information systems for Energizer Canada.
“Energizer was a great company to work for, and it was fun to be the bunny,” he says, “although I didn’t like the heat stroke part.”
It was while studying for his bachelor of commerce degree at Queen’s University that Breward first began to think he’d like to work in academia. But he’d already mapped out a career path for himself that included becoming a chartered accountant and then earning an MBA. After graduating from Queen’s, he spent the next few years working as an accountant and a controller, earning his CMA along the way. Eventually, he joined Energizer, first as manager of financial planning and analysis. But within a few years of being promoted to director, he began to feel restless.
“I’d achieved what I wanted to do, and now I realized I wanted to do something more than budgeting or financial reporting for the next 30 years. I remembered my old dreams, and my wife said: ‘Why don’t you get your PhD?’”
Breward recalls that he protested that they’d have to give up their house and change their lives, and his wife’s response was: “So?”
He enrolled at McMaster University and earned his PhD in management information systems. His wife, Katherine, is now in her second year of a PhD program herself and is a sessional instructor at U of G.
For his thesis, Breward studied security and information systems and sought to answer the question: How open are consumers to the use of biometrics for identification at ATMs and in other financial transactions? Biometrics refers to methods of recognizing people through unique biological markers such as fingerprints and the iris of the eye.
Previous research had found that consumers tend to keep concepts of security and privacy separate in their mind, but Breward’s study found that, when it comes to biometrics, people see security and privacy as closely related.
“The idea of biometrics generates such a visceral gut reaction that people don’t separate privacy and security,” he says. “They recognize that they may have to give up some privacy to secure their financial assets, but biometric techniques scare them. And that’s real. You can’t just dismiss people’s fears.”
Currently, Breward is looking at another area of privacy and security: what people post on Facebook.
“I’m trying to capture some data on whether people who use Facebook are aware of how the site is used by other parts of society, including employers. Then I want to look at whether being educated about this will affect their attitudes and their use of Facebook.”
He notes that many schools and companies prescreen candidates by checking Facebook pages, and many employers routinely view their employees’ pages to see what’s been posted.
“I’ve heard horror stories about people who lost job opportunities because of their Facebook pages.”
Having gathered some preliminary data, Breward wants to study these issues with a larger group that would include high school students, university students and the general public.
Other projects he’s involved in include writing teaching cases. “A teaching case tells a story and presents a problem, and students have to look for solutions,” he explains.
He and his wife recently wrote a case on non-profit governance and how to evaluate an organization before joining its board. The case is being used in a competition and should be published soon.
And just as he suspected all those years ago when he was studying at Queen’s, Breward is finding that he loves teaching.
“This is the best job I’ve ever had,” he says. “I completely understand why some academics never fully retire. It’s just too much fun.”