Such a Thing as Privacy

In our tremendously public lives, it seems impossible to assume that anything can really be totally private. There is such a thing as privacy (but no guarantee of it), but we have ceded much of it through active and passive choices.

I am most shocked by the active choices of so many people, of all ages, to share anything and everything they do, think and say. This occurs in almost every form of media we now have and the trend seems to be increasing. From reality television to blogs, more and more people display what would have been considered private a generation ago with the world. Actually, I take that back, some of it would have been considered shameful.

A less active choice that affects privacy is our desire to partake of the conveniences of modern society. I want to be able to use an ATM (but when and where I take money out is now collectible information), I want to use a credit card (but all my purchases are now recorded and the patterns of what and when I buy is now interpretable information), I want to collect airline miles (but now my travel patterns are further analyzed), I want to bank online (but now there is a possibility that someone on another continent could access my information), I want to share photos with friends and family in North America (but now candid photos of me could be accessed) and I want to communicate by email (but this could also be accessed and my private communication shared). I take many steps to protect my very valued privacy but I am not willing at this point to forgo any of the above.

We also live in a society that has tacitly accepted a world in which almost anything we do in a public space could be watched and recorded. Surveillance cameras exist in almost every country to varying degrees. Satellites take images of what we do. Google drives around taking pictures of streetscapes. Anything I may be doing in these public spaces (or in front of the window when google drives by) may be captured for posterity. We could protest these potential intrusions into our privacy but as a society we have accepted that they are part and parcel of the modern world. In some cases we believe that our security is worth the loss of privacy and make the passive choice to go along with it.

To guarantee our privacy we would have to remove ourselves from the modern world and live a very circumscribed existence. As educators I believe we need to start early with our students to talk about the concept of privacy and the potential risks of losing it. We need to be particularly clear about what happens when one throws privacy out the window and shares it all. The consequences can be damaging to our mental/physical health, our academic and professional careers and to our relationships. If we engage in this dialogue with our students they will, if we are lucky, have a plan or intent about what they share online. They will avoid the oh-but-i-didn't-think-EVERYONE-would-see-that at least some of the repercussions of sharing.

For the apocalyptic view of privacy's future, check out this article from our very own Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. This kind of surveillance seems straight out of the classic Sandra Bullock film, The Net.