QotW6: Privacy........What?

Is it the feeling of loneliness that makes us portray our personal details to the rest of the world via blogs and social networks on the Internet, or can it simply be argued that we actually do benefit from this act?

In real life, if a stranger were to come up to us and ask us for our personal details like telephone numbers, e- mail addresses, etc, other than running away from them, some people may even call the police. However, as double standard as it may seem, we unconditionally leave information about ourselves on the Internet, available for anyone’s viewing pleasure.

With the rapid progression of services that the Internet brings to us, we have begun to rely on it heavily. Be it to find friends or conquer boredom, social networking sites such as Facebook, Hi5 and Friendster are at the top of the list in terms of audience popularity. Although entrance and membership are free on these sites, people are required to provide information like their e-mail addresses and locations, in addition to the personal traits that would be displayed on their profiles.
Yet, when our bulk mail folder displays over a hundred spam mail, we wonder how they located our addresses!

In order to send spam, spammers need to obtain the e-mail addresses of the intended recipients. Toward this end, spammers gather huge lists of potential e-mail addresses. Since spam is, by definition, unsolicited, address harvesting is done without the consent (and sometimes against the expressed will) of the address owners (E-mail spam, 2007).

The situation we face could be almost a “give and take” trend. We trade in our privacy, in order for a slice of the expanding virtual reality and its limitless services.
As Rosen says in “The Naked Crowd,” a world where individuals have to prove their trustworthiness and value every day before the crowd, choosing among an infinite range of lifestyles, behaviors, clothes, and values, is inevitably a world that creates great anxiety about identity. Rather than conforming to pre-existing social roles, individuals are expected to find their true selves and constantly market themselves to a skeptical world (2004).

In today’s world, many people simply do not care or are not affected by the fact that “privacy” is on its way to extinction. Fortunately, I still value privacy and the sense of individualism it gives to us. I make it a point not to give out personal details about my self in social sites. It is also advisable to refrain from using real names and sticking to pseudonyms. Self Identity should be something personal. Thus, I only disclose information to good friends and relatives.
There have been numerous occasions where unwanted, unknown people have messaged and tried to contact me through sites like Hi5 and Friendster. However, by being ignorant and disregarding such messages, the problem would cease, at least temporarily.

As Sullivan says, everybody has secrets that they don’t want everyone else to know. Hence, it is our responsibility to be more aware and protect our privacy and our secrets. It is a “give and take” world. But humans always have and always will find means to give less and take more. Maybe we could find a way to trade just a miniscule of our privacy for the infinity of the Internet.

Reference:

Rosen, J. (2004). "The Naked Crowd" Retrieved March 10, 2007 from

http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm

Sullivan, B. (2006). “Privacy Lost: Does anybody care?” Retrieved March 10, 2007 from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

E-mail Spam, (2007) Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 10, 2007 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spam