Inverting Privacy

The rise of social networks and boom in DIY content have together changed the nature of privacy, allowing people to expose information about themselves on public networks, often for an incentive of lower cost services or other network efficiency.

An image showing a facebook page answering the question

Facebook’s Beacon service, launched but then retracted in 2008, enabled the network to broadcast information about users’ purchases and other activities to their social networks online, ostensibly to encourage similar activities among friends. It was taken down after furious protest from both network members and privacy advocates.

As Internet users embrace a wider range of services, purchase from more Web sites, exchange information about themselves and their preferences, download applications and participate in communities, join social networks and share media, they are exposing, both unintentionally and through their participation an increasingly extensive amount of information about themselves. From financial information to friendships to consumption habits, ‘netizens essentially live in public. While many younger users in particular claim to care about their privacy, online norms and choices portray a range of attitudes toward what is private, and how valuable privacy is.

Signals:

Until recently, there were notable variations in generational use of online e-commerce and financial services, largely due to concerns about exposure of private data. Success of newer payment systems, such as PayPal, e-taling based on the honor system, such as eBay, peer-to-peer classifieds such as Craigslist and newer, Web-based financial tools such as Mint indicate shifting public attitudes toward risk around disclosing personal information.
Online ad tracking has fallen under scrutiny as more is known about the technologies and practices used by advertisers and data miners following user habits online. While some Internet users employ various security technologies, many continue to expose personal activity data either willingly, as much is known about these practices, or unwittingly.
Social networks have also become a focal point of concern around the issue of privacy, as sites such as Facebook enable far greater levels of transparency around personal connections, individual behavior reported or captured by social media, and activities. Gen Y is sometimes referred to as the “Facebook Generation” as a commentary about different attitudes regarding sharing of information.
Location-based services have become the latest area of personal information disclosure, as public services such as Foursquare, Facebook places and Gowalla allow users to broadcast their location and movements to other users and participating businesses.

Implications:

Social media sites have become goldmines of personal data, giving individuals, businesses and hackers alike massively increased access to personal information of users. Reactions to this have increased focus on data privacy and may be leading to a backlash around disclosures.
Businesses may begin to think differently about what level of information they are able to solicit from customers, as users become numb to the effects of leaving a trail of behavioral data online.

Countertrends:

There has been some movement back toward privacy protection in the past year, with an open Facebook alternative called Diaspora Project gathering the most attention. Continued problems of data leakage from major e-commerce, financial and social network services may build to the point where a larger backlash sets in, with users either curtailing online activity or demanding greater protection, beyond what is offered now.

Extrapolations:

Services which aggregate large amounts of an individual’s disparate online activities and trails are already emerging through simple data mining technologies. Full-on ‘lifelogging” services may grow to create extensive online records of individuals’ daily activities.