Privacy has been a question on the table for some time, pretty much since the dawn of the digital age. However, there has always been a deep paradox between what was generally said, indeed legislated for, and what we did.
The aspect rarely considered is the moral one.
For a moral stance to be effective, it must be proactive, rather than reactive.
Legislation is reactive, protecting us against ourselves, usually because we are unable or too stupid to protect ourselves, and in this country we have a library of laws just about discrimination, just a small sector of the regulation of how we live our lives.
This is the case with the digital privacy conundrum. Well meaning, clogging the system with legislative plaque, much of which is ineffective, and getting in the way of people having to make moral and usually sensible decisions,
Where is the moral line in the sand as regards our personal data and the social platforms we all use?
There is a difference between selling data, which none of the better known platforms like Facebook would do, and enabling that data to be used in a manner that you have at least tacitly agreed to by its provision. It may be a fine line to some, but the line is there, as the choice to give the data is yours, only you can make it.
Most do not seem to realise, or choose to ignore the fact that the free platforms they use are not really free. The price is access to their personal data which the platform uses to target advertising, which they need to make it free.
While we struggle to share potentially life saving information in domains like healthcare, in case our friends found out we had a cold, we lavished personal and often highly sensitive information onto digital platforms, for use as a way to attract advertisers, so they can blast us with specific and personalised messages to buy their stuff. The first situation is as stupid as the second.
When faced with a problem of Gordian proportions, never trust the guy with a simple answer, especially when they have something to sell you. Unravelling the knot we have got ourselves into with privacy is such a Gordian knot.
The many data breaches and sheer commercialisation of our data, highlighted with the Facebook/Cambridge analytica fiasco recently have perhaps brought things to a head, but it just keeps on coming. Grindr’s problems over the past week with data security and just plain lying, are just another in a long line, that will keep on coming as long as we post stuff.
Corporations, and their directors have to navigate a way through this maze of inconsistency, public good Vs individual rights, and the primal urge to legislate that seems to drive what passes for political discourse.
A simple test for individuals: If you would not want to see it on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald (showing my age there) do not post it!
Photo credit: Angelo DeSantis via Flikr
