Is Privacy Dead?

In the last seven years I have written and spoken about privacy and whether we will have any in the future In 2006 before the iPhone and all the hand held computing that has followed I wrote a column titled amp8220 Technology Advances Privacy Declinesamp8221As I wrote in a recent column amp8220That is basically the bottom line on privacy in the Shift Age and the 21st century Smart phones tablets browsers video surveillance cameras everywhere ATM machines and all form of digital records and communications that we so embrace basically are eliminating privacy as it has been defined for centuriesamp8221The Snowden revelations of last summer prompted me to think more deeply about the future of privacy This led me to write a short eBook amp8220 Is Privacy Dead The Future of Privacy in the Digital Ageamp8221 It has just been publishedThe purpose of this book is to prompt a larger deeper discussion of privacy and the future of privacy than is currently going on Through our use of technology our desire for convenience our sharing of information in social media and of course the almost mindboggling depth and breadth of NSA surveillance we are now in a place where the traditional sense of what is private has be shreddedThe conversation about privacy for the United States and for all the developed countries of the world must now move forward The current reporting and discussion on the media is still on a low and reactive level Do we have privacy What is the valid tradeoff between national security and personal privacy What is Mr Snowden up to Here is the latest revelation about the magnitude of NSA surveillance reported in breathless or indignant toneWhat we must now do is to begin the discussion about what society looks like in a world of no privacy What are the moral and ethical adjustments individuals must make What are the new social contracts between businesses governments and individuals How do we protect our nation from physical and cyber attacks and still protect our citizensamp8217 individual rightsThe word privacy is not in the Constitution of the United States The Fourth Amendment the most relevant part of this great document speaks in physical terms about the right for privacyamp8220The right of the people to be secure in their persons houses papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause supported by Oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seizedamp8221These words were written at a time when the only reality was the physical reality of a placebased world These words were written 75 years before the telegraph 125 years before the telephone started to become commonplace 200 years before critical mass of cell phone users and more than 215 years before there was widespread high speed internet connectivityIn my research for amp8220Is Privacy Dead The Future of Privacy in the Digital Agequot I realized that the definitions of privacy starting in the 1400s were all based upon a physical reality with no connective technologies This is the point I made in my column amp8220 Privacy and the Two Realities of the Shift Ageamp8221 We now have two realities our physical reality and our screen reality For centuries privacy was defined and thought about solely in the physical reality that was the reality for humanity until the last 100 yearsOf course it is through the screen reality that we have lost much of our personal privacy Now surveillance has become ever more prevalent in our physical reality with cameras in every store on many street corners remember how the Boston Marathon bombers were captured and police departments and toll booths on highways taking photographs of our license platesIf you use a smart phone log onto the Internet drive a car walk down a street or use any card that swipes your information it means that others know what you do This is the world we now live in It is time to accept this reality happily or not and move on to how we need to change our morality ethics and social contracts in such ways that will allow freedom and democracy in a world of no privacyDavid Houle is a futurist strategist and speaker He has always been slightly ahead of the curve Houle spent more than 20 years in media and entertainment Most recently David is a featured contributor to Oprahcom Check him out here wwwoprahcomdavidhoule David can be contacted at DavidDavidHoulecomRead all Davidamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Evolution ShiftCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Is Privacy Dead?

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David Houle

AARP and the Ad Council Encourage People in Their “Pretirement” Years to Take Key Steps Toward Saving - Ad Council InSites

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David Houle

AARP and the Ad Council Encourage People in Their “Pretirement” Years to Take Key Steps Toward Saving - Ad Council InSites

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