Today somebody asked me why I don’t set updates to twitter.com so that only my friends can read them, and I just thought up a satisfactory answer – which a few people I know won’t agree with. Online privacy is nonexistent for me. It always has been, and it’s not a big deal. The fact is that as soon as that message is made semi-public, anybody can actually see it. It doesn’t take much for a friend to show his phone to somebody else, or forward on an email.

The great story I’m reminded of is a Microsoft employee who sent an unpleasant message to a colleague, protected by some feature in MS Office to prevent copying and pasting. The receiver took out his mobile phone, took a picture of the message on the screen and sent it back via MMS. Unfortunately I can’t find a link to back it up, but I’m sure it’s out there somewhere.

As a fantastic side-note, it’s half past four in the morning and I’m in an unfamiliar house, pretty much on my own. My two friends are “occupied”, so I plan on enjoying the morning (after blogging of course, which was the obvious first choice). Hope everyone else got more sleep than I did.

Comments

By David Smith on 14 October 2007 at 08:57:

“It doesn’t take much for a friend to show his phone to somebody else, or forward on an email.” Nor in RL does it “take much” … But you wouldn’t, would you?

I see one life, threaded through by good sense, trust between friends and respect for the privacy that some want and seek to apply to their online stuff. (Try exposing someone’s posted-as-private material and the response will be swift — and every bit as to the point as a similar abuse of trust in RL. Of course, the other consequences could be far worse.)

By Michael Henley on 17 October 2007 at 21:47:

Exposure of privacy… I suppose the exposure contained in the post is fitting to the content…

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I posted this on Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 04:30, under Technology.