So there I was diligently working, a recent re-run of CSI on the television in the background. That’s when I heard it: “It’s not that they don’t believe in privacy, it’s that they value openness.”
Turns out that “they” were people who gave a running dialogue of their life on Twitter, the level of detail shocking to one character who wondered what sort didn't share his conventional view of protecting information: “Don’t these people believe in privacy?”
I’ve had these same conversations with friends, colleagues and family. To a person they lament the so-called loss of privacy they perceive to occur when one joins a social network.
To a person of a certain age, privacy has a very different meaning. To younger people who have grown up sharing and showing all of the events of their lives (and I do mean ALL), privacy is not the precious right their elders prize. They believe in transparency in all things and think everyone else should, too.
For the time being, this is an interesting academic discussion and occasionally fodder for TV show banter. But soon, it will be a significant public and social policy issue as the young people who value transparency over privacy move into positions of authority.
Businesses have always hid to varying degrees behind literal and figurative walls. There are even laws that prevent disclosure of certain types of commercial and personal information. Attorneys, ministers and physicians make a living keeping secrets.
In the future, what will the kids raised on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook do when they take the helm? Will they learn to embrace a level of privacy they’ve never known or will they force new levels of transparency that would make Justice Brandeis cringe.
I’m thinking openness will be the new privacy. What do you think? And which do you value more – transparency or privacy?
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