The Reality of Privacy Today

I have largely enjoyed his columns in this space until the one he recently wrote in which he used the word amp8220disgustingamp8221 to describe my view of privacy It really struck me as I donamp8217t think I have heard that word used to describe me since my active participation in anti Vietnam war demonstrations provoked some supporters of that war to call my actions amp8220disgustingamp8221 Sometimes speaking the truth and standing up to point it out provokes such languageIn a column I wrote for this space and in a recently published eBook I basically took the point of view that the privacy our grandparents and parents had has been largely eviscerated This means that we largely live in a world of no privacy We must accept this and begin to have the conversation about the new social contracts ethics and relationship between the public and private sector that recognizes this reality As I wrote in this spacequotThe 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 been 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 rightsquot Ali called me quotdisgustingquot because I basically stated that we live in a world of no privacy and that it is time to accept that and initiate even demand that society have an open conversation about how we can both accept that and still have a free and open democracy Ali wroteamp8220 We must resist the Eric Schmidts and David Houles of this world who donamp8217t quite understand the difference between what amp8216isamp8217 and what amp8216should beamp8217 Morality and ethics lie in what amp8216should beamp8217 amp8221All my life I have had problems with people who use the word amp8220shouldamp8221 as in I amp8220shouldamp8221 do that or this is the way I amp8220shouldamp8221 act They usually are acting from moral superiority tied to some belief system they want the world to adhere to In this case Ali whose passionate demand for the advertising community to stand up and accept complicity in our loss of privacy with such entities as Google and Facebook I agree with states that we cannot allow ourselves to accept what is and instead live for a amp8220should beamp8221The first thing to do when having a discussion is to accept what is as the point of departure We can then dream of what might be we can demand what amp8220should beamp8221 but to not start from amp8220what isamp8221 renders any such discussion abstract and theoreticalSince the great Lou Reed died in November amp8211 may he rest in peace amp8211 I have been listening obsessively to the music of this iconic figure I have also devoured dozens of clips of him on YouTube One is particularly relevant for this column When last summer in Cannes he was asked what he thought about the Snowden revelations question on Snowden starts around 130 he said he was speechless and mentioned Obama lying about Verizon capturing all cell records As Lou said amp8220That was our guyamp8221 which was why he was so shockedSo in a world where amp8220our guyamp8221 expands upon the BushCheney Patriot Act and lies to the American public about surveillance it might not be what amp8220should beamp8221 but it is reality It is essential for any valid social discussion to begin with amp8220what isamp8221 That is not amp8220disgustingamp8221 that is intelligentamp160David 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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