Online Privacy

Ok, today I'm just going to indulge myself and rant a little bit. I read a lot of blogs and a lot of stuff about social media. Last week Facebook made some changes to their policies and people have been talking about online privacy a lot. I have some pretty definite ideas about that so I'm going to throw in my two cents worth.

First here are a couple of posts you might find interesting: the first one is from Scott Monty who is the head of social media for Ford Motor Company. He discusses what the changes are and shares some links to read more. The second post is from Robert Scoble, a pretty well-known blogger and author. I generally find myself agreeing with stuff he says (I'm sure that's a big relief for him). One thing that Scoble says is that the last bastion of privacy is consent; the ability to control your story.

To me this means you watch what you share. If it's something that you don't want known, don't put it someplace where it can be seen. Is Facebook infringing on privacy? Personally I don't think so. If you sign-up for a Facebook, or any social media account, and start posting you've voluntarily given up control over what you post. Maybe you thought only your friends would see it, maybe you don't want it shared with other companies but I find that a rather naive idea. As I've said in my Facebook posts numerous times, I believe that the term online privacy is a contradiction. You do have some control over what you share but, in my opinion, if you put something online you should always assume that it can be seen by anyone.

Facebook gives you some control over what you share. Personally I have my privacy controls set so that most of my information is available to anyone. I do hide my phone number but that's actually pretty pointless because if someone wants it bad enough they'll find it. Anyway I have caller ID, I just won't answer the phone! But the interesting thing is that I consider myself to be a fairly private person. I share a lot on Facebook and in this blog and it's open to the world as far as I'm concerned. I have another blog where I keep track of eating and exercise. Only a handful of people have access to that blog because I put things there that are more personal. However, I also am aware that there is a possibility someone could see it and I'm ok with that. What I seriously want to keep private I don't post and I don't tell anyone. It stays in my head. You know what they say about two people keeping a secret.

There are things we all would like to keep secret. A good start is not to post them online. I have put things online that I'd probably be embarrassed if some people saw. But I did it for valid reasons and I thought about it beforehand and figured I'd live with any embarrassment. (And don't bother looking, I'm excellent at covering my tracks.) But I think the key point is to think it through first. If you post a picture of yourself naked (no I didn't do that!) I think that's fine so long as you're willing to accept the consequences which could range from your family seeing it to losing your job. It's like anything in life, you think about the consequences and make your decision. Of course the problem is that we often do things on and off-line without thinking about the consequences. I think that's called gaining experience.

I have what I think is a very clever analogy about privacy. My living room window looks out onto a walkway which my neighbors use. I have blinds at the window which I keep open most of the day. Anyone can look into my living room and I'm ok with that. Mostly people walk past and deliberately don't look because we all want to respect our neighbor's privacy. But if they do look and I'm doing something embarrassing I have no right to complain they violated my privacy. I opened the blinds and by doing that I invited them in. When I close the blinds, I have a reasonable expectation of privacy. If you post something online you've opened the blinds and have lost the right to complain if someone looks. I don't think that companies like Facebook are obligated or even able to provide you that reasonable expectation of privacy. Banks, government agencies and other organizations that deal with financial and other sensitive information can't even do that. Credit card information is routinely hacked.

My neighbors probably aren't interested in what I'm doing. Even if they are, they have to see me at the mailbox or in the parking lot so they consciously try not to look. Online there aren't any inhibitors. We, and I freely admit to being very nosy, can look without consequence at who other people are.

My final thought (this post got a little long) is that the idea of privacy is kind of silly. Historically when people lived in small villages and towns everyone knew what their neighbors were doing. The Internet is just a large village that's getting smaller everyday. Post what you want but always do it with the assumption that if it's embarrassing the person you'd least want to see it will be the first one to find it. That's a pretty safe way to live your online life I think.

Quick update: My blog posts automatically post to my Facebook account also. I had to go in and delete this post because I made a grammatical error and I wanted it corrected. That's the kind of thing I find embarrassing and want to keep private!