reality

What people do and what people say is a notoriously difficult paradox to integrate. Technology Liberation Front writes about the rhetoric and reality of online privacy.

In a nutshell, ask anyone if they care about their privacy and almost 100% of them will say, yes, absolutely. But then ask them about what they do both online and offline on a daily basis and most of them will reveal a very different set of preferences or values when it comes to what “protecting privacy” would mean in practice.

My experience reflects this. Some users are unaware of the privacy implications of their actions (they don’t read the EULA). Other users are disinterested in their privacy even if they say that they are concerned. Still others are concerned about their privacy but are unwilling to pay the price of protecting it.

What this shows is not that privacy is unimportant. It shows that people need help to do the right thing. Compare privacy concerns to dental hygiene: almost everyone claims to be interested and concerned about dental hygiene but do you all floss daily?

So at the beginning of the New Year I decided to plan, or at least, organize myself. As soon as I managed to define a vague plan of action I got sciatic pains that prevented me from working for a longer period of 10 minutes at a time. Then, today on the first real day of work – feeling a bit better and ready for action I readied myself for an intense morning of writing only to be reminded that I was due to give a lecture (I had forgotten).

After the lecture and a foodless lunch break I was interviewed by a PhD student writing her thesis on PhD academic bloggers. The result of the lecture and sitting still during the interview was the return of lower back pain.

Eventually realizing it was time to give up attempts to work I left and went to the gym for a yoga class – a great way to fix the ache in my back. Very relaxing.

So despite the best laid plans no real amount of work was produced… ah well there is always tomorrow.

Online privacy: rhetoric and reality

The best laid plans…