We are in a world were our communication, information , search, entertainment, creation, and content are done with some form of digital device with access to the internet. This dynamic intricately tied to our personal and professional lives : privacy both online and offline is being transformed. Some of this is within our control and some out of our control. This combination generates discomfort when people have time to sit back and reflect on this change we all are witnessing on the sidelines passively. Can we do anything about this? Do we need to?
There is nothing like the convenience to work and live with digital devices that provide you everything at your finger tips seamlessly 24/7. Google’s integration of mail, documents, sites, video, blogs, maps, online shopping, music storage etc…. is an example how the integration of a digital platform with one username and password provide users with powerful consumption and creation tools for free! Google is not alone, other examples: Apple iTunes, iCloud, and its growing selection of products via its own digital devices, Facebook and its growing menu of services and tools all available to you whenever you wish with any device that has an internet connection.
The pay-off is that the services and companies facilitating seamless connectivity and convenience 24/7 get unlimited access to all your online information. Our online information, habits and behaviors are available to them. This is the hidden cost of using these environments, often without our specific consent or knowledge. Let us be honest, how many of us spent the time reading the information Google shared out once it changed its privacy philosophy with users of its suite of products. Does it matter? This is a matter of personal choice. Living without these services makes functioning in a digital world quite challenging.
The meaning of the word “privacy” has changed. The days of being anonymous, and having no digital footprint, are gone. We have adopted these conveniences in our eagerness to keep up with the changing world, and partly by the success of digital environment and device companies marketing. We have been convinced that we need these digital environments and devices to function in today’s world. The reality is that there are few alternatives.
What next? The dependency for 24/7 seamless connectivity is only increasing with the proliferation of digital environments and devices for communication, information gathering/sharing and content production. The algorithms digital companies are currently using to track, analyses, synthesis and control our personal online information will only get more sophisticated and intricate. Our own control of how much gets tracked and analyzed will diminish as the connectivity becomes more invisible.
The concept of privacy as we might have understood it in the past has changed. Our online lives are attached to an intricate digital trail on everything we do. This trail available to governments, companies and organizations controlling/managing our digital environments and devices. We as individuals need to re-frame what privacy means to us.
As an educator I am already witnessing some concrete evidence of students and adults coming to terms with this, as they manage their own online environments. There are students who are deleting their Facebook as they get ready to apply to Universities. They understand the timeline of events, and photos which often where started when they where in middle school are maybe not what they wish to showcase or allow folks to have access. With this a growing appreciation of having a clear division between your professional digital footprint and your personal footprint. Google (ing) your name on a regular basis, and trying to manage/control what is available to search engines by better managing your privacy settings. Developing a deeper understanding of what the different privacy controls mean, and how to best manage your online digital footprint with these controls.
We can no more expect to work in a world where privacy is something we control or have options to function under the radar. We live in a connected world, where everything we do, leaves a digital narrative. This digital narrative used, shared, and built upon by third parties often without our knowledge.
It is through an understanding of these new frameworks, tools and environments that we can to a certain level choreograph our own digital footprint. I believe that the literacy of online privacy needs to be part of our curriculum and learning for both adults and students. No privacy is the new privacy.
John@ http://beyonddigital.org
Beyond Digital 
Well said John. I couldn’t agree with you more that our curriculum around privacy in schools needs to be updated. It use to be about not sharing your address and phone number. But I think we need to expand those lessons to include a broader idea of privacy.
I’m with you…I know I have to give up something for the amazing services that I use every day on the web for free…and I guess I’m OK with that. But each person needs to make that decision for themselves. If we really want to get into it. With the number of traffic camera, and GPS in all cell phones now privacy really doesn’t exist.
Actually I think it’s much easy once you decide you’re going to live in public. Once you make that decision then you automatically think about things publicly rather than privately….but that’s a shift we as a society haven’t made yet.
The idea of thinking about things publicly rather than privately is the shift… hadn’t quite thought of it like that. A friend once said to me that if I didn’t want to see it on the front page of the New York Times, then don’t email it. Assume that everything we do online could be on the front page and go from there.
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You explain the issue(s) well, but what to do about these forces at work is troubling. The question is: to what degree can we remain off the information grid and still be “clued in” to the information structures and access to resources around us. Should we teach the kids to use an alias, and lie about their personal data when creating accounts? The thought has crossed my mind. Teach the kids to lie to throw the scent off. That would be a funny addition to our school’s curriculum!
I clearly remember when it began to dawn on people in the professional arena that Email had become such a powerful and enveloping (pardon the pun) communication tool. There were some who really struggled with that paradigm change. But, like a bulldozer, it was “get on, or get out of the way.” Who knew that this would eventually lead to the creation of personalized information trails that private companies and governments can exploit in so many ways. When exactly did I sign up for that?
I agree with your assertion that “the literacy of online privacy needs to be part of our curriculum and learning for both adults and students.” Yes indeed. Too bad I am not personally the greatest example of a tabula rasa! Repent ye facebook users! lol.