The end of privacy - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

MikeWaters · 10-13-2010, 08:54 PM

Excuse me if I have mentioned this before. I sometimes forget what I have written. I have intended to mention this before at the very least.

I was listening to NPR and someone was on talking about privacy in the internet age. And his thesis was that we are actually entering the era of the end of privacy. The privacy era began when the advent of cities, especially large ones, where people could "disappear" into. You could live in a big city, have no relatives, not know any of your neighbors, and live a solitary existence.

After all, it's a little bit harder to be a serial killer in a small town where everybody knows everybody else.

But in a city....."He never made trouble for nobody, he kept to himself." The neighbor says about the man with 15 prostitutes in freezers in his garage.

But I'm getting sidetracked here....what is more interesting is this new era of the lack of privacy. Much of our life existing through the net and in the cloud in terms of emails, social media, message boards, blogs, browsing history, purchases, etc. And all of that preserved forever, or at least the good possibility it will be preserved forever.

Helluva thing. How many of us have said some things in the heat of the moment that we now regret?

On the radio this morning, guys were talking about a democratic candidate for congress who had photos surface, of an embarrassing nature. No nudity, but sexual in content. http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-ent...e-%E2%80%98net

Do we embrace this post-private future, or run like hell?

I have an aunt and uncle who chastised me about not staying in better touch with them. They updated me on the goings on with their son and daughter-in-law, and it was quickly clear that I knew as much as they did. Because the d-in-l is on facebook with me. And they are not on facebook. I mention this to them, and I get a little lecture about the privacy dangers of facebook. This was the same guy, who back in the day, would not use wi-fi due to the same concerns.

It seems the younger you are, the less you are concerned about privacy. The kids these days will post anything. The old folks post nothing. And most of us slightly older folks are somewhere in the middle.

It seems to some degree, the more you have, the more you stand to lose in this brave new world. Want to run for office? Better to not be on the internet at all. I have a friend who has run for local office, and probably aspires to be in bigger politics--he barely uses email. I'd have better luck getting a reply if I sent him a letter.

What future general authority is going to have an internet public record that raises eyebrows? Imagine if we had the tweets of a teenage and 20-something Joseph Smith.

Maybe the future holds for greater leeway and forgiveness for the sins of our past. Otherwise, I'm not sure we will be able to function.

10-13-2010, 08:54 PM	#1
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	The end of privacy Excuse me if I have mentioned this before. I sometimes forget what I have written. I have intended to mention this before at the very least. I was listening to NPR and someone was on talking about privacy in the internet age. And his thesis was that we are actually entering the era of the end of privacy. The privacy era began when the advent of cities, especially large ones, where people could "disappear" into. You could live in a big city, have no relatives, not know any of your neighbors, and live a solitary existence. After all, it's a little bit harder to be a serial killer in a small town where everybody knows everybody else. But in a city....."He never made trouble for nobody, he kept to himself." The neighbor says about the man with 15 prostitutes in freezers in his garage. But I'm getting sidetracked here....what is more interesting is this new era of the lack of privacy. Much of our life existing through the net and in the cloud in terms of emails, social media, message boards, blogs, browsing history, purchases, etc. And all of that preserved forever, or at least the good possibility it will be preserved forever. Helluva thing. How many of us have said some things in the heat of the moment that we now regret? On the radio this morning, guys were talking about a democratic candidate for congress who had photos surface, of an embarrassing nature. No nudity, but sexual in content. http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-ent...e-%E2%80%98net Do we embrace this post-private future, or run like hell? I have an aunt and uncle who chastised me about not staying in better touch with them. They updated me on the goings on with their son and daughter-in-law, and it was quickly clear that I knew as much as they did. Because the d-in-l is on facebook with me. And they are not on facebook. I mention this to them, and I get a little lecture about the privacy dangers of facebook. This was the same guy, who back in the day, would not use wi-fi due to the same concerns. It seems the younger you are, the less you are concerned about privacy. The kids these days will post anything. The old folks post nothing. And most of us slightly older folks are somewhere in the middle. It seems to some degree, the more you have, the more you stand to lose in this brave new world. Want to run for office? Better to not be on the internet at all. I have a friend who has run for local office, and probably aspires to be in bigger politics--he barely uses email. I'd have better luck getting a reply if I sent him a letter. What future general authority is going to have an internet public record that raises eyebrows? Imagine if we had the tweets of a teenage and 20-something Joseph Smith. Maybe the future holds for greater leeway and forgiveness for the sins of our past. Otherwise, I'm not sure we will be able to function.