Lessons from the Fireside: Synthesizing the Journey Thus Far

-- By BrianS - 02 Dec 2009

Introduction: Something Private this Way Comes

We are by now well-acquainted with the exclamation that privacy is dead. In the days of yore, we are told, there was secrecy, and the secrecy was good. But the digital age promised us the greatest conveniences, services customized to our every desire, if we would simply help the vendors remember a bit about us. "Like the oleander, however, the beauty is the danger." The stories of the sacrifice of privacy on the altar of technological advancement are now legion. And so, they say, privacy is dead.

The truth of the matter is much darker, and the profession that privacy is dead or lost is only half true. The claim that we have "lost" our privacy suggests a sort of invasion of our secret places, shadowed eyes peering into our bedrooms, probing mentalists looking into our thoughts themselves. In sum, the claim that privacy is lost suggests an intrusion by another; the claim that privacy is dead suggests that we have lost any concept of it in our lives. But neither is what has actually occurred.

To the contrary, we have not stopped understanding what privacy is, nor have we stopped thinking that some things are private. We retain a sense that there are matters that are ours only to tell, our secrets to hold, our nakedness to conceal. Technology does not peer into our innermost sanctum, it is we who spill our darkest secrets to technology. Technology does not read our minds or peep into our windows, we instead freely confess exactly what we are thinking, why we are thinking it, and to whom we are telling it to. We do so in real time. Privacy has not been lost, it has been given away; privacy has not died, we have made it into a fully-living monster. This is the Frankensteinian New Privacy, a horror of our own making.

The New Privacy is a clever beast with many, silver-tongued maws. The Privacy tells us that no matter what we might think is personal, we must still blog about that party last weekend. The creature boldly professes that it values our secrets, but that it truly must possess them so that it can be a better companion; TWikiGuest, don't you want to be friends?

In sum, the New Privacy has convinced us to disrobe in public without discarding our fear of nakedness.

Like any good creature of nightmare, we do not fully understand the New Privacy's power; it is difficult to pin down its harms. Because the Privacy operates in shadow and mist, we cannot clearly perceive where it might next strike. The Privacy is always lurking near; it watches us at home, and as we travel afar. And because we have allowed the beast's tendrils to so embrace our lives, the monster now surrounds us on all sides. In the light of day it beckons us to adhere to its wishes, and even in slumber the monster's dreams have power.

The monster preys on the young and the old; it yields not even for the departed. Indeed, the creature draws strength from all that we are. From the armor that we clothe ourselves in to the taverns in which we gather; from the vessels we travel the virtual seas upon to the parchment we use to exchange letters. From each of these, the Privacy strengthens.

But not all of the villagers are without ears to hear; after whispered tales from those who have seen the beast, some have found their torches and blades. They have set out in isolation and with entourage. There is disagreement about how the beast should be met: should we capture and cage it, or should we slay it directly? Once captured, may others gaze upon it, despite the dangers?

Conclusion: The Way Home

Some have called the hunters fools; others would be glad to travel with them. And so we come to the question of which am I; what is my claim to knowledge? Never have I have met the creature face to faces, and the wounds it has dealt me are yet few. But I have listened at the evening fireside long enough to know that something moves in the darkness. I have seen enough marks in the dirt to know the thing's measure, and to know it is growing. I am now one who is searching for his pitchfork in the night, and I tell you this story because I fear to dwell in darkness alone.

How then, traveler, could we advance? What can we hope to do when we are only coming to wisdom so far down the path? The answer begins where all nightmares end: we must wake up. The power of the monster is its secrecy, for if it is as terrible as we claim, how long would the villagers let it live once it was dragged into the light of day? Until the monster is revealed, we will fight it alone. "The real power lies in us," and we must act soon.

But the New Privacy is not a creature of myth, and sunlight alone will not dispatch it. We will require other tools as well. Further, some welcome the monster's influence; I therefore reject the full murder of the beast, for to do so would be to deny them freedom of choice, and thereby sacrifice part of ourselves.

Still, like anything with potential to do great harm, we must limit the monster's reach. We must require the Privacy's agents to reveal their purposes whenever they seek to deal with us. We must require those disclosures to strike the difficult balance between entirety, brevity, and clarity. We cannot pretend that this balance is easily found. But if we are to both respect the choices of those who would freely deal with the monster and yet wholly accept that those dealings are dangerous to us all, that balance is the only viable option of which I know. And if you insist, fellow traveler, that there are better solutions than I here propose, better ways to resolve the mess that we are now within?

Well, TWikiGuest, then you see why I am so eager to have you along.

References to Integrate:

Jacobus's paper on Google and data-aggregation as a problem

Scott's paper on, e.g., CCTV and privacy invasions in the US and particularly abroad

Seth's paper on the Google Voice privacy policy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/business/30privacy.html?pagewanted=1&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

http://bwog.net/2008/06/10/hilarious-housing-dining-social-security-number-mishap

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/08/facebook_status.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/facebook-friends-not-real-judge/2008/03/27/1206207279597.html

http://todayilaughed.com/?attachment_id=1118

http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/life_in_the_shadows/Content?oid=98753

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565

http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000430mag-internetprivacy.html

http://epic.org/privacy/wiretap/ltr_pen_trap_leahy_final.pdf

http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/pentrap3121_3127.htm

http://www.newsweek.com/id/195621

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/technology/04privacy.html?_r=1

http://files.cloudprivacy.net/verizon-price-list-letter.PDF

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201444.html

http://epic.org/privacy/carnivore/

http://www.silicon-flatirons.org/events.php?id=700

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078854

# * Set ALLOWTOPICVIEW = TWikiAdminGroup, BrianS

Since I am called twice in your essay, please let me say a few here even though it is not yet ready for review.

First, i am impressed with your last part writing about "monster". it answers well my question in my essay ("Question is how" - i deleted that sentence in the revised version before reading your paper). I agree that it is not easy to find the optimal balance between a monopolistic power and competing insurgents.

I sometimes become pessimistic how we can improve the world. However, I believe that this nation, U.S., has power to create something new and to challenge monsters always.

Rather, I am more concerned about those societies which do not have this counter-culture or anti-mainstream mentality.

Thank you, Brian, for carefully reading my paper. Your paper gives me some encouragement.

-- AndoY - 06 Dec 2009

Ando, Brian actually inserted a code % WIKIUSERNAME % (without spaces in between the % and WIKIUSERNAME) so that the reader will see his name. Pretty nifty tool.

-- AllanOng - 06 Dec 2009

That is correct, if you are logged in while reading the paper it will kick up your Wiki Name. If you are not logged in, you'll see TWikiGuest I believe. The idea behind the %WIKIUSERNAME% code is to give the essay an aura of "that's kind of creepy." Which, given the dangers I'm trying to identify in the essay, is just what I'm going for.

So while I did read your paper carefully Ando, I didn't single you out particularly. That would be mean!

-- BrianS - 06 Dec 2009