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I can't even imagine about what privacy is going to look like in 20 years, or how society will adapt to deal with it. What seems missing from his thought experi
by m0nastic 13y ago
I can't even imagine about what privacy is going to look like in 20 years, or how society will adapt to deal with it. What seems missing from his thought experiment is how to address privacy for things that concern more than just a single participant.
I don't particularly worry about my individual privacy, or care about securing my things. If someone managed to get a hold of my email, I wouldn't be very put out. I don't encrypt my hard drives, or even back anything up. My lack of security and privacy hygiene, however, doesn't extend to my work stuff. I care about maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of that stuff because it's part of a social contract (and I suppose also an employment contract) that I have with my work and my clients.
Instead of his diary example, what if he had asked his friend "Can I copy all of the emails off of your phone, or all the phone numbers in your addressbook?" Maybe they still wouldn't care, or maybe they'd now have to take into account the fact that all that data also involves other people, and maybe they wouldn't find it acceptable for you to give our their cell phone number to anybody who asks.
So much of the data that we accrue is increasingly more interconnected with other people. I feel like that's where we run into trouble, because there is no universal consensus around what's private and what isn't. We have rudimentary laws protecting the smallest subset of data which the government has decided should be considered private, but everything else is a value judgement for individuals (and is part of the current internet company land-grab).
I feel like his position is going to be harder and harder to maintain, as more and more of the "personal" data he's okay with sharing includes other people's data.
- ZoFreX 13y ago> I can't even imagine about what privacy is going to look like in 20 years, or how society will adapt to deal with it. You might like the book "The Light of Other Days"!
- Pelerin 13y agoI think about that book a lot when any discussions of privacy arise. A great depiction of a post-privacy world.
- m0nastic 13y agoThanks, I'll check it out! I don't generally like science fiction, but the premise sounds interesting and I did like some of Clarke's other books.
- soneca 13y agoAldo the webcomic Private Eye. Google it, you will find it interesting
- dsowers 13y agoReally good book. I recommend it as well.
- iQuercus 13y agoIf I recall my history correctly, then through most of human history the notion of privacy has not been anywhere near as robust as it is today. We live in "luxurious" times as it pertains to what we consider privacy today.
- dinkumthinkum 13y agoI know, no one in the world has secrets, what's the big deal?
- Toenex 13y agoNicely said, although I'd recommend backing stuff up, just so when you are old you show your kids 'what daddy used to do!'
- gky2 13y agoYou bring up a very solid point. I've been in situations where I was "forced" to give out information such as my conversations with other people, emails, etc. on continuous basis. Although it had nothing to do with work or to a professional level, even on a personal level, that type of information, to me, was private between me and the people I communicate with. With society heading more towards social media, connections, and networking. Holding secrets seem to be pretty difficult. If someone were to ask me to tell them a secret, I wouldn't even know what to say. It seems like all aspects of my life is already known by one person or another, or maybe it's so secret that I don't even remember it myself. I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing.