Don't care about privacy? Prove it.
So, we have yet another executive saying we should stop with all this privacy talk. In this case, Randi Zuckerberg who is Marketing Director for facebook. In fact based on what she's said, "I think anonymity on the Internet has to go away. People behave a lot better when they have their real names down. … I think people hide behind anonymity and they feel like they can say whatever they want behind closed doors." (source: blog post on the EFF's website Randi Zuckerberg Runs in the Wrong Direction on Pseudonymity Online) she thinks that people won't misbehave if their real names will be attached to their actions...
Ma'am? Just how long have you been disconnected from the real world? People do cruel things all the time without the benefit of anonymity. Even when you remove teenagers (because frankly every last one of us is at least a touch insane as a teenager) and politicians from the equation you'll find plenty of people doing mean, cruel, things despite knowing that those who see them doing it know exactly who they are.
I believe in few if any absolutes. There are times to strip away anonymity. But you know, there are legal processes for that. Processes that start with showing there is a reason you need to dig into the matter. But I'm willing to entertain the possibility that she's right. I suggest that if she really believes this she start with herself. I won't demand she reveal what she does offline, but go completely public online. Real name everywhere no privacy settings turned on. I would want her to do one other thing. Make an honest count of how many times she hesitates to do something: Oops no can't post that it would say when no one will be home, oops no can't say that it will say when be niece will be at any after school even and some wacko upset with me might do something, oops no can't say that...
I think I have overall a rather boringly average life with little drama in it. Yet there are still things I would hesitate to talk about if this account had my full real name showing. Frankly, even with no more than my real first name shown (if you bother to look) I still flag some posts not to be shown to everyone. And some things I just don't mention. You'll notice that when I complain about work I don't give the name of the place I work (and hardly ever even mention what kind of place it is). When I complain about classwork I don't mention where I'm taking the classes.
Give us this middle ground. But if you insist on taking away our privacy do please be prepared for us to demand you have none for yourself. (And have to ask, Randi, you do realize when former (IIRC) Google CEO Eric Schmidt said something similar he found he put himself in the cross-hairs of people with too much time on their hands, right? You do remember what they did, in some cases using Google's on tools to find every scrap of information about him they could that was already in public and put together a dossier about him. And you do remember that he looked like a schmuck when he followed up his comments about how others should be quiet about wanting privacy with whining about people pointing out what was already in the public record about him?)
(This is a crossposting |
replies at the original post on dreamwidth | Comment at dreamwidth | You can comment on DW posts even if you don't have an account there Using OpenID!)
Ma'am? Just how long have you been disconnected from the real world? People do cruel things all the time without the benefit of anonymity. Even when you remove teenagers (because frankly every last one of us is at least a touch insane as a teenager) and politicians from the equation you'll find plenty of people doing mean, cruel, things despite knowing that those who see them doing it know exactly who they are.
I believe in few if any absolutes. There are times to strip away anonymity. But you know, there are legal processes for that. Processes that start with showing there is a reason you need to dig into the matter. But I'm willing to entertain the possibility that she's right. I suggest that if she really believes this she start with herself. I won't demand she reveal what she does offline, but go completely public online. Real name everywhere no privacy settings turned on. I would want her to do one other thing. Make an honest count of how many times she hesitates to do something: Oops no can't post that it would say when no one will be home, oops no can't say that it will say when be niece will be at any after school even and some wacko upset with me might do something, oops no can't say that...
I think I have overall a rather boringly average life with little drama in it. Yet there are still things I would hesitate to talk about if this account had my full real name showing. Frankly, even with no more than my real first name shown (if you bother to look) I still flag some posts not to be shown to everyone. And some things I just don't mention. You'll notice that when I complain about work I don't give the name of the place I work (and hardly ever even mention what kind of place it is). When I complain about classwork I don't mention where I'm taking the classes.
Give us this middle ground. But if you insist on taking away our privacy do please be prepared for us to demand you have none for yourself. (And have to ask, Randi, you do realize when former (IIRC) Google CEO Eric Schmidt said something similar he found he put himself in the cross-hairs of people with too much time on their hands, right? You do remember what they did, in some cases using Google's on tools to find every scrap of information about him they could that was already in public and put together a dossier about him. And you do remember that he looked like a schmuck when he followed up his comments about how others should be quiet about wanting privacy with whining about people pointing out what was already in the public record about him?)
(This is a crossposting |
replies at the original post on dreamwidth | Comment at dreamwidth | You can comment on DW posts even if you don't have an account there Using OpenID!)