Now, contrary to Seth Godin's assertions, I do care about Privacy as well as Surprises. I've got some crazy thoughts, far weirder than the ones I share here. I keep those thoughts to my self for my own reasons. I certainly don't want credit card companies or Uncle Sam digging around in my head, no matter how polite they are or how badly they telegraph their intentions. Knowing in advance that the government was going to stick a camera in my home (or a nightstick up my bum) wouldn't change the fact that I'd get mighty pissed about it. Freakin' fascists!People don't truly care about privacy
There's been a lot of noise about privacy over the last decade, but what most pundits miss is that most people don't care about privacy, not at all.
If they did, they wouldn't have credit cards. Your credit card company knows an insane amount about you.
What people care about is being surprised.
If your credit card company called you up and said, "we've been looking over your records and we see that you've been having an extramarital affair. We'd like to offer you a free coupon for VD testing..." you'd freak out, and for good reason.
If the local authorities start using what's on the corner surveillance cameras to sell you a new kind of commuter token, you'd be a little annoyed at that as well.
So far, government and big companies have gotten away with taking virtually all our privacy away by not surprising most of us, at least not in a vivid way. Libertarians are worried (probably with cause) that once the surprises start happening, it'll be too late.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Privacy and Surprises
Interesting thoughts at Seth's blog. He's talking the marketing angle of this, but I think the more important part is the first half, quoted here...
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2 comments:
I am pleased to see you are reading Seth's blog.
And I share your fear of having deviant thoughts, as evidenced by the recent pairing down of my blog.
What struck me about this post was the thought, "Libertarians are worried (probably with cause) that once the surprises start happening, it'll be too late." I hadn't really considered that.
I generally haven't supported privacy in the past. Too much data for anyone to wade through effectively, plus that would "clear conscious" thing. For example, if my employer took offense to the fact that I read personal blogs (not many) during business hours, I would explain that it was part of my creative process, and if that was unacceptable, so long. I do my work, and I do it well: I am, in fact, among the company's top performers.
But I have reason to believe I could find another job fairly quickly. Not everyone has that luxury.
Recently, and moreso after Mr. Godin's post today, I'm reconsidering my position.
On the other hand, some of that information really is genuinely useful. I like Google Ad Sense, for example: it provides links that I actually might consider clicking on, rather than spam.
But I can see that power being abused.
[sigh]
Interesting times.
The privacy thing seems like an inevitability. Technological increases allow for greater levels of spying with less and less intrusiveness. From mobile phone pinging to data phishing to street corner cameras and purchase tracking, our lives can be watched without us ever really realizing it. The best weapon is disinformation. As Grant Morrison said, "Give me a camera. I'll act the shit out of it."
It's like what I did with the MySpace page, listing myself as a muslim lesbian. Sure enough, the advertising changed.
During the build up to the Iraq war I wondered why the Pentagon didn't use the disinformation technique. Rather than trying to maintain the shroud of secrecy about the invasion strategies, they could have released about 50 attack plans and said, "It's one of these. Good luck guessing which one."
I like the idea of personal privacy. I just never expect it.
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