Online privacy is a subject we have discussed endlessly, yet it never stops being relevant. Recently, a Twitter user caused a stir by posting live updates about a holiday as a single parent with a child, using #singleparenttrip, which even became a trending topic. Frankwatching described the updates as hilarious, but also compared them to The Truman Show. Outsiders learned all sorts of things about the travelling group through tweets, without those people having any idea they were being discussed.
The comments beneath the article debated the need for privacy, the right to it and opposing views. Online privacy, or its absence, provokes strong feelings. And I am not talking here about the major revelations involving Julian Assange of WikiLeaks or Edward Snowden and the NSA.
Almost every day, I am surprised by how easily people post Facebook photos of others on public transport or in a bar without the subject’s knowledge. To me, this is as much about basic courtesy as it is about privacy.
It is difficult. On the one hand, we want to share everything with the world: where we are or have been, where we are going, what we are eating and whom we are with. And that is before we get to sharing pictures of children. But we are outraged if someone else misuses it.
Do not misunderstand me: I believe online privacy could be much better. Making your Facebook profile private and assuming nobody outside your friends can see your posts gives a false sense of security. Hackers have been obtaining protected information for years, and a determined searcher can find tools online that claim to do the same.
I also think education should pay more attention to online behaviour in the broadest sense. Developing a formal code may go too far, but many people, especially children, do not understand the consequences of what they do online.
We should all think a little more carefully ourselves, too. It sounds obvious, but if you do not want someone to know where you are, do not check in on Swarm or post pictures on Facebook. This certainly applies to me: if you do not want your child to have a complete online record by the age of sixteen, be careful what you publish. Putting something online is easy; removing it completely is practically impossible.
As I write, an announcement says Julian Assange is about to hold a press conference. It will create another stir, and plenty of people will have an opinion on privacy. So do I: in 2014, online privacy does not exist.
Inger
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