PRIVACY

The illusion of privacy and confidentiality will continue to come crashing down as technology marches forward and new media follows suit. Whether you're using a blog, twitter handle, Facebook page, LinkedIn, YouTube video, Google search etc. the act of doing that alone has limited your privacy. Whether it's the NSA, Google, Facebook, marketers, etc. everyone is in the hunt for information about you and everyone of those organizations I just mentioned has "legitimized" reasons for capturing and storing data about you - you have a profile somewhere that is publicly accessible whether you know it or not.

Privacy is an illusion and the more you use media, new or old, you give up that right because you're essentially generating a digital footprint back to you that's publicly accessible from anywhere at anytime.  If you care about privacy, stop using a computer - event then your privacy may be violated.

With respect to new media, we can leverage the "lack" of privacy by generating the kind of content that enhances our public persona or information rather than detract from it. It can be a way to empower who you are "digitally" speaking. There is no real privacy in blogs, social media, twitter, Apple icloud (ask Jennifer Lawrence), digital content - can you say mashup?, etc.

Here's a question to ponder - with all the digital content that exist about you and the different locations, organizations, etc. that hold that content, who will act as the privacy police on your behalf and enforce existing (outdated) privacy laws?

We simply have a level of tolerance for what may be known about us but privacy and confidentiality are illusions!


References:

1. Nocera, J. 2014, February. The Wild West of Privacy. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/opinion/nocera-the-wild-west-of-privacy.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=2
2. Greenfield, R. 2012, December. Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private. Retrieved from http://www.thewire.com/technology/2012/12/facebook-privacy-so-confusing-even-zuckerberg-family-photo-isnt-private/60313/
3. Zarrell, R. 2014, August. Jennifer Lawrence, Victoria Justice, Other Celebs Victims Of More Leaks, Apple Denies Breach. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/jennifer-lawrence-ariana-grande-picture-leak#.gpKoQ5lzaO