Included within: brief explorations of my head, forced extrovertedness in the form of obsessive idea consumerism, and fanatic art and design adoration.
Saturday, 2 June 2007
Freedom with life as an open book
Mood:
happy
Topic: Seriously
Email first heralded a world of smaller and smaller communicational proportions. Then social networking sites and Google maps made almost every person and place in the world a couple of key strokes away. I can remember the ever shortening distances between people due to new internet services and technology was once cheered--I certainly cheered it. After the ticker tape has all fallen though, people are starting to question the dangers of having everything at their fingertips, because then it only stands to reason that everything is also at the fingertips of other people who might want to steal their personal information. Really what we are facing may be a simple as a generation gap.
The way I see it, the cycle of investing personal information in a new thingamajig, like say a credit card is fraught with the same dangers and protections that it has always been fraught with. In the days of carbon copy card swiping your number and the information needed to use the card where visible to the clerk, the clerks boss, the bosses boss, headquarters, and a myriad of other people at the credit card company itself for every location you ever had your card swiped at. With online shopping you simply face a different set of clerks and bosses who can see all the information they need to use your account, just like then. And there are always new and improved security practices protecting you to counter the new and improved ways of stealing your private information.
Sites like Facebook and Myspace come with a similar cycle. As you reach out to more people you face the danger that there are more people out there that can betray you and your private information. How is this any different online from face to face? No matter where or how you share it, the information you share can always make it into the hands of people you don't know, via people you do know or a Google search. The employers who use the information they find to prejudge a candidate are most likely coming from a generation that separated the work and play aspects of their life to such an extent that the name of their kids were secrets. This generation helped to create the idea of a perfect political candidate. The U.S. is permeated with the idea that doing it, whatever it may be, is alright but somebody else doing it is scandalous, to the point that a few college party pics on a Myspace website could deny a young graduate a job. This unfortunate aspect of internet privacy issues is simply the difference between people who believe that others can be perfect and people who believe that flaws do make others less of a perfect person.
And now the newest internet service is meeting a rainfall of criticism due to what people are calling privacy infringement. The newest service is, of course, Google street view, and the complaint is that when you pan and zoom the windows of people's houses come into view. Can't neighbors see in windows? --and anyone else driving down the street? The way I see it, the anyone else driving down the street could do more harm than someone in Germany who simply wants to experience a new city without being there. As for any nude sunbathers in fenced back yards--I'm sure every pubescent kid in the neighborhood knows the sunbathing schedule already.
Articles have already begun to cover the supposed devil may care attitude of youngsters who have no inclination to protect themselves or information about themselves from a large and differentiated group of online predators. Maybe, because I am of the age to be grouped with them, I too see little problem with posting pictures of nearly every aspect and location of my life, blog posts covering personal thoughts and events, personal biographies, interests, and email addresses. The idea, for me, is to reach out like an open pen pal letter to people who might want to reach back. Pen pal organizations used to be popular for the same reason that people visit chat rooms today. We gain our knowledge of the world not only through our own experiences but by actively seeking out people who can share with us a different perspective. How we do the seeking is really the only thing that has ever changed.
Being free with information and pictures and contact information is not the same as not understanding the enormity of identity theft and the importance of safe-guarding personal information. Interestingly enough, I consider the paper documents to be the most damaging weak link. I shred mail and communications constantly. I think too, that as people become more and more internet savvy they become more capable of taking a lead role in the protection of everything they put out there. How many staff training exercises and articles have been formulated about how to create and update a password? Memorizing letter number combinations has become second nature to me, and I am sure to many other people who spend hours and hours of their time sharing their lives with people online. For those that embrace the internet advancement, there isn't any new danger. It is all the same danger in a new package.
Say Everything
Facebook Generation
Mood:
happyTopic: Seriously
Email first heralded a world of smaller and smaller communicational proportions. Then social networking sites and Google maps made almost every person and place in the world a couple of key strokes away. I can remember the ever shortening distances between people due to new internet services and technology was once cheered--I certainly cheered it. After the ticker tape has all fallen though, people are starting to question the dangers of having everything at their fingertips, because then it only stands to reason that everything is also at the fingertips of other people who might want to steal their personal information. Really what we are facing may be a simple as a generation gap.
The way I see it, the cycle of investing personal information in a new thingamajig, like say a credit card is fraught with the same dangers and protections that it has always been fraught with. In the days of carbon copy card swiping your number and the information needed to use the card where visible to the clerk, the clerks boss, the bosses boss, headquarters, and a myriad of other people at the credit card company itself for every location you ever had your card swiped at. With online shopping you simply face a different set of clerks and bosses who can see all the information they need to use your account, just like then. And there are always new and improved security practices protecting you to counter the new and improved ways of stealing your private information.
Sites like Facebook and Myspace come with a similar cycle. As you reach out to more people you face the danger that there are more people out there that can betray you and your private information. How is this any different online from face to face? No matter where or how you share it, the information you share can always make it into the hands of people you don't know, via people you do know or a Google search. The employers who use the information they find to prejudge a candidate are most likely coming from a generation that separated the work and play aspects of their life to such an extent that the name of their kids were secrets. This generation helped to create the idea of a perfect political candidate. The U.S. is permeated with the idea that doing it, whatever it may be, is alright but somebody else doing it is scandalous, to the point that a few college party pics on a Myspace website could deny a young graduate a job. This unfortunate aspect of internet privacy issues is simply the difference between people who believe that others can be perfect and people who believe that flaws do make others less of a perfect person.
And now the newest internet service is meeting a rainfall of criticism due to what people are calling privacy infringement. The newest service is, of course, Google street view, and the complaint is that when you pan and zoom the windows of people's houses come into view. Can't neighbors see in windows? --and anyone else driving down the street? The way I see it, the anyone else driving down the street could do more harm than someone in Germany who simply wants to experience a new city without being there. As for any nude sunbathers in fenced back yards--I'm sure every pubescent kid in the neighborhood knows the sunbathing schedule already.
Articles have already begun to cover the supposed devil may care attitude of youngsters who have no inclination to protect themselves or information about themselves from a large and differentiated group of online predators. Maybe, because I am of the age to be grouped with them, I too see little problem with posting pictures of nearly every aspect and location of my life, blog posts covering personal thoughts and events, personal biographies, interests, and email addresses. The idea, for me, is to reach out like an open pen pal letter to people who might want to reach back. Pen pal organizations used to be popular for the same reason that people visit chat rooms today. We gain our knowledge of the world not only through our own experiences but by actively seeking out people who can share with us a different perspective. How we do the seeking is really the only thing that has ever changed.
Being free with information and pictures and contact information is not the same as not understanding the enormity of identity theft and the importance of safe-guarding personal information. Interestingly enough, I consider the paper documents to be the most damaging weak link. I shred mail and communications constantly. I think too, that as people become more and more internet savvy they become more capable of taking a lead role in the protection of everything they put out there. How many staff training exercises and articles have been formulated about how to create and update a password? Memorizing letter number combinations has become second nature to me, and I am sure to many other people who spend hours and hours of their time sharing their lives with people online. For those that embrace the internet advancement, there isn't any new danger. It is all the same danger in a new package.
Say Everything
Facebook Generation
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