‘Privacy on the Internet’ – the oxymoron of our time.
By revealing personal data online, what kind of risk are we setting ourselves up for?
Ten years ago most of us were hesitant to enter our credit card information online. Today, many are posting intimate details of their everyday life alongside personal editorial – propelling them to the status of semi-celebrity.
Yes, the internet works based on the premise of sharing information with the world. Fringe Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul who as of late has become a superstar in part to his success on the news-ranking site Digg. According to FacebookObama enjoys
‘Basketball, writing, loafing w/ kids’, and his favorite music is ‘Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johann Sebastian Bach (cello suites), and The Fugees’. Hilary is on MySpace with links to her various sites and Youtube videos of her stance on the issues. Sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Moveable Type allow users to manage privacy by implementing features that allow us to have what they call ‘total control’.
But what are the by-products of this sharing of personal information? I’ve heard of employers who will visit one’s Myspace page prior to moving forward with an interview process. Will those photos of you boozing it up with your friends at last winter’s trip to Aspen cost you your dream job? It it easier to attract stalkers and what about selling your soul to the marketing devil? Plenty of companies aggregate demographical information and sell it to third party vendors. Are you becoming type-cast in a world that is meant to ‘set you free’?
We’re all celebrities in post-privacy age
