Archive for the ‘transparency’ tag
privacy 2.0
Taking as a given that our old concept of personal privacy is an illusion as Chris Messina does, we come to conclusions that are counter-intuitive to older generations. To re-establish the protection and safety that privacy may have afforded us before the advent of the digital information age, perhaps we ought to fight not for our right to privacy, but for our right to be anything but private. We ought to fight for our right to be heard. Complete transparency, the very opposite of privacy, is the unlikely savior of our freedom.
Complete transparency is only useful however, if one can be heard above the din. If we are able to be heard, and if we are able to forge meaningful relationships with others online, we are afforded protection by the fact that somebody cares, somebody notices, and somebody is there to hear our complaint if we feel any entity is encroaching on our freedom or treating us unfairly. On the Internet, there really is power in numbers, with the rapid and ubiquitous spread of information even challenging the usefulness of permanent hierarchical models of organization. As mankind, are we ready for this new global democracy? As individuals, are we ready to live publicly?
