Privacy

Privacy has become a major topic of conversation recently.

More specifically, violations of privacy have been all over the media.  And the outrage is vocal and impressive.

However, the blame, which everyone is trying to ascribe, really comes down to one place.

Ourselves.

After the events of 9/11/01, Americans allowed the government to take unprecedented actions in direct violation of our constitutional rights to “protect” us from terrorism.  And, this should come as no surprise, the US government extended and expanded this, digging even deeper than we thought we gave them the mandate to do.

I do not care what side of the political spectrum you are on – but if you really, truly want privacy – keep it off the internet, and off the phone.

I’m sorry if this is in any way offensive, but let’s be honest – do you think that ANY ‘e’ media is really, truly secure?  Given the digital nature of modern mobile phones and other information technologies, is it really that much of a shock that our privacy is nearly non-existent?

We can and certainly should demand that the government roll back these abuses of the Bill of Rights and stop spying on us in rather Orwellian ways…but truth be told, if we want something to remain private – it is up to US to keep it so.

So many people “check in” to a site on Foursquare, post their locale on Twitter or Facebook or G+.  And yet, even with all these lack-of-private actions, they proceed to post how offended they are by the government’s civil rights abuses.

If you really, truly want to maintain your privacy – then don’t put anything on a social media outlet, in an e mail or through a text message or phone call that you want to keep to yourself.  Try good old fashioned face-to-face time in a non-public forum for real confidentiality.

That is the best way to maintain your privacy.  In the digital age, where we can use a GPS to find point “a” from point “b”, have instant communications via multiple resources, is it REALLY that much of a shock that they can look back at us?  Are we that surprised that this data is being gathered and stored?

Of course it is wrong, and violates our civil liberties…but we let it happen.  Yes, we should demand that they back off and stop playing Big Brother…but we can also take direct action, and give them less data to sift through.

Just a thought.