Exposed

Ah...copyright and privacy...two different subjects, one highly threatening medium:

The INTERNET

Seriously, no matter how hard you try to: a. remain anonymous and b. protect your intellectual property, as soon as you go online, you are screwed. The Head Lemur has some amazing advice for those of you concerned about copyright:

If you are serious about protecting contents follow the 6 point program below.

1. Take it down from the publicly available internet location.
2. Turn off the computer with the original files.
3. Remove the harddrive.
4. Destroy the harddrive by using a 18 LB sledge hammer.
5. Bury the remains in a land fill.
6. Have hypnosis to remove any traces of memory of the above.

[see, this is me, copying his stuff and re-posting it here. Sure, I give him credit, but I benefit from the publishing of it here.]

And, then there is this gem from former Sun Microsystems CEO, Scott McNealy (in 1999):

"You have zero privacy anyway," Scott McNealy told a group of reporters and analysts Monday night at an event to launch his company's new Jini technology.

"Get over it." [via: Om]

Sounds harsh, doesn't it? Well, it is the reality. Just take a look at the most recent government subpeonas. I really doubt that this is the first time. I know that anyone wanting to figure out my political leanings, subversive activities or general screw-ups could do some simple investigating. I'd hate to see what someone with some real knowledge of technology and access to information could find out about my life. Actually. I don't really care. I'm pretty transparent.

And transparency is where I believe I can win (if I ever thought it was a battle). I expose myself. And, for those things that I want to keep private, I keep it offline. But, can I prevent others from posting it somewhere?

For example, I get in trouble with my credit. The credit bureau is accessible online. Or I make a blathering fool of myself at a party. Hello Flickr!

Hmmmm...now we are getting a little more complicated. The reality is, you cannot always control information about you being out there. In fact, in some cases, it is necessary (like the credit bureau). So, yes, you can watch how you live. You can be a 'good girl' (or boy) and never give anyone reason to post nasty things about you.

But that isn't fun, is it?

The truth is, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that as soon as I leave my house (and, really, in my case, even before) my life becomes public property. But it is the same for everyone else.

PERSONAL VIGNETTE

Many years ago, I worked on contract at a company in Calgary. I was there as a market research consultant, so much of my work was done online, putting together the background information for RFPs and partnership programs. As in any job, there were busier than snot times and really dead times. Being that I was also working on a big thesis, I would use that down time to do my own research.

Well, little did I know it, but every site I visited for this purpose was flagged as 'non work' related. When I reached my limit, I was called into my supervisor's office. The contract, needless to say, was cut short. I was horrified. How could they watch what I was surfing? How could they employ an entire division of people whose sole purpose was to track 'non work' related usage of the internet? I felt violated.

But what I've realized since is that, even when not made explicit, there are people watching, but, unlike the work situation, most don't really care about my activity online or otherwise. I'm really not that interesting. (or as Chris so eloquently put it: "You think people care about your personal information, but they could give a shit about you."_ Unless I engage in activities that will throw up a series of red flags for the watchers, I can go about doing my thing without ever noticing that I'm being monitored.

There are many reasons why we are monitored, but the most frequent reason is for 'market research' (ironically enough). The information gathered from one person's behavior is not too useful in this case. Each of us becomes another 'test subject' in the sea of 'test subjects'. Individually, we have nothing to lose...but we sometimes have something to gain.

Research results from studying our behaviors goes into a great deal of innovation. It helps improve UI and services and answer questions, like, "What is useful? What is not?" We see improvements on various online sites overtime because of this research. Without it, design would happen in a boardroom by a handful of people with their own interests. With it, the actual people using a site can determine the direction.

So, is it a bad thing that we are exposed, exploited, watched and monitored? Well, sometimes. But there is a catch-22 to it. We give up our anonomity (which, really, if you publish online, you give up anyway) to receive better service.

But don't get me started with spyware...(monitoring is one thing, something that eats away at my memory and allows for annoying pop ups and redirects is a whole other ball of wax)...

technorati tags: privacy, monitoring, copyright, fairuse, bothsides