Does Technology Only Impact Privacy In One Direction?

from the doesn't-seem-like-it dept

New technologies have absolutely contributed to the erosion of certain privacies, in many cases just by stripping away the obscurity aspect that allowed for "security by obscurity." However, many people also believe that technology can equally be a driving force in re-establishing privacy as well: using things like better encryption and other tools that can be embraced as a better method for keeping private info away from prying eyes. Does it really turn out that way? An analyst is now claiming that technology is a one way street when it comes to privacy -- and, if it wasn't obvious, saying that it's the wrong direction for those who want things to remain private. Given the pretty much unstoppable march of technology, does it really mean that technology has turned privacy into a luxury instead of a right, as the author claims? There are certainly those, like David Brin, who believe this is the case, and claim that the only response is to embrace the lack of privacy and make it possible to stop privacy violations by making it easier for you to spot privacy violations and out the violator (think about it for a second, and it actually makes some sense). However, others may contend that there is still a very real possibility that technology can be used in response to put the privacy genie back in the bottle. It's not a question that has a single answer. It seems likely that the real answer is somewhere in-between, with technologies both helping to build up and tear down walls on an ongoing basis.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    dorpus, 10 Nov 2005 @ 1:38am

    Big Brother or Old Lady?

    The city of Osaka has placed robot mannequins called "obakores" who are supposed to personify the city. The mannequins will talk to passers-by and make immodest claims about how Osaka is a great city, and that it is "better" than Tokyo. The robots talk in loud, sharp voices which Osakans are proud of, because they are more working class... I mean, "down to Earth" people.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Paul M., 10 Nov 2005 @ 5:47am

    tracking corporate use of personal data

    there are two techniques I use to track a corporation's use of my details. These are inspired by an article I once saw on TV (at least 20 years ago), but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the person who suggested it.

    Add initials or extra middle names when you register with a corporation. So, for example, when I signed up to United Airlines mileage system, I used the name "Paul U.A Lastname".

    To track email address usage, you need your own domain (which ain't expensive, less than $10/year from godaddy.com), and funnel all email into one mailbox (or use wildcards). Whenever you sign up with a website, use a new unique email address... e.g. paul-ua@ for united airlines, paul-bookmonthclub@ for book of the month club etc.

    In this way I know categorically that a car parts finder website led to me receiving hard core spam to a new mailbox which have never existed before, and that United Airlines sold my email address to a third party without my permission.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      z0idberg, 10 Nov 2005 @ 7:43am

      Re: tracking corporate use of personal data

      you can do something similar to the domain name thing with a gmail account. I read about it here:

      http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2004_06_26_index.html#108825308795611349

      basically if you gmail address is firstname.lastname@gmail.com and you sign up to a website name www.somecompany.com you can give your email address as firstname.lastname+somecompany@gmail.com

      Any email sent to firstname.lastname+somecompany@gmail.com will come to your normal gmail account and you can see that they sent it to firstname.lastname+somecompany@gmail.com

      Saves the trouble of setting up a domain and managing it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Andy, 10 Nov 2005 @ 7:56am

        Re: tracking corporate use of personal data

        Problem is, that you've just given them your real Gmail address. Quite easy to strip out anything between the plus sign and the @ sign.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    giafly, 10 Nov 2005 @ 7:53am

    The Web does provide privacy

    ... or else trolls wouldn't survive.
    Also pr0n has become a huge industry because technology allows people to watch at home in reasonable privacy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    jeremiah, 10 Nov 2005 @ 8:08am

    Privacy as Luxury

    I heard a phrase from a colleague the other day: "Privacy is a luxury." I think she's onto something, in the sense that in the future....ahem "IN THE FUTURE...." privacy (read: the absence of your personal/consumer information in major data mines) is probably going to be a luxury service - afforded (literally) to those who can pay.

    Of course, I've been wrong before.

    -j

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    gid, 10 Nov 2005 @ 8:35am

    pgp/gpg

    I sign most of my emails with pgp keys. Sometimes (although granted it is rare) I will get an email back from someone with their public pgp/gpg key. This allows us to communicate back and forth in relative obscurity through the use of encrypted email. I highly recommend GnuPG for anyone looking to have a good way of keeping information as secret as possible from onlooking eyes. In this day and age our worry isnt so much the government snooping our traffic, but private corporations.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Bob, 10 Nov 2005 @ 8:54am

    Tools

    What if everyone was named the same name, either John Doe or Jane Doe, and always paid in cash for everything?

    That pretty much blows a hole in the whole IT-being-resonsible theory. Technology is a tool, nothing more. To what end it is used is up to us.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Etchy, 10 Nov 2005 @ 10:55am

    No Subject Given

    David Brin wrote about this in 1991 in a really great work of sci-fi called "Earth." Then he went on to write "The Postman." Well, his genius is done...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    JAPHspam, 22 Mar 2006 @ 1:19am

    hacker

    I just like spam! I'm collocting junk email...

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.