Privacy is not an option

Aaron at walking paper wrote a nice post about privacy earlier in the week. I did disagree a little and wanted to comment on the post.

He essentially argues that librarians are missing the point somewhat when they criticize youngsters for putting personal information online. In this I agree with him. This is just to say that our traditional notions of privacy are changing, and the amount of privacy that can be expected by any of us is changing, particularly for those who fully participate in the social web. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this shift and I think we have to be prepared for changes in the way digital natives think about privacy.

What I do disagree with somewhat is the final paragraph.

People, including young ones, know much more about online safety than some like to admit. They also know that to a certain extent, fully participating in the 21st century means forgetting about privacy. 

He links to data that suggests children are safer online than we often think. He also points out, again correctly, that people are learning to cope with less privately. He also says he’s not sure libraries should be spending time helping people learn about proper online behavior because of the above reasons. I disagree with this.

I think what people haven’t really come to grips with or realized is exactly how easily findable all that personal information is. Despite the fact that deep down they know that some privacy is disapearing I’m not sure they realize how much of what they post online can be found.

Recently I met a private investigator who says he finds loads of valuable information on MySpace. I myself have found people who have posted social security numbers on websites they thought were private, inappropriate Flickr pictures when googling someone’s name, and other (what I would call) online faux pas. A few weeks ago Law.com had an article about just this “MySpace is a Treasure Chest for Cases” (subscription required).

So do we have to enforce our traditional notions of privacy on younger generations? No. But I think there is a role for public, academic, and even special librarians for helping people better manage their online reputations.