We seem so surprised that our privacy can be compromised. [View all]

[MineralMan]

I don't understand that at all. A thoughtful person would understand that if they post their personal information on the Internet, it will not remain private. From providing your credit card number to online retailers and companies like Paypal to posting photos of yourself in a compromising situation on Facebook, we constantly expose our private information to view.

We do the same with our political beliefs and ideas. DU, for example, is completely transparent to public view, and that means that anyone who wants can see what you wrote here. "But I use an anonymous screen name!" Yes, but it's not easy to keep that screen name anonymous. It takes a lot of effort. Most people use the same screen name on multiple sites, and inadvertently disclose their location, interests, and other details in things like profiles and messages they post.

Some people maintain a certain amount of privacy, but many don't even try. In most cases, about an hour of Googling can usually turn up the actual identity of most screen names. Twitter, Facebook, and other public places are even more transparent. We complain when our private information is discovered, but we continue to post it everywhere, with only the thinnest veneer of anonymity.

Google, for example, indexes DU constantly. Make a post here, and the title of the post will appear at the top of Google searches that use the exact wording of that title in minutes. Search for your screen name and the DU URL, and you can find every post you've ever made on DU on Google. What you have disclosed about yourself is open to view by anybody. Post a photo of yourself on DU, and it will be quickly available to people searching for your screen name on Google. Use that image to search Google Images, and a list of everywhere that exact image is posted on the Internet will pop right up. Is that image connected anywhere on the Internet with you real name? I'll bet it is. People who know that still post their photos here, but don't care. They know that Internet anonymity is largely a myth.

Privacy is important, but it's also important that we protect our own privacy to whatever extent we feel is justified. It's not just the government that is interested in us. In fact the government isn't much interested in us, anyhow. It already has plenty of data about its citizens. Worry more about corporations who are looking for information about consumers. They're the ones who are really using the transparency of the Internet to assemble data about individuals. They're the ones to worry about. The government has many ways to find out about us, if they feel that there's a reason to do so. Mostly, the government doesn't give a damn about your private information. They already have it, and have been collecting it since before the Internet and cell phones existed.

Protect your privacy as best you can, and to the degree you feel appropriate. But realize that privacy is pretty much a myth for anyone who uses today's technology. That loss of privacy is part of the technology. It's built into it, and we eagerly adopt that technology. That's reality. That's the world we inhabit.