My life (marked un-private)

I sold my privacy. No, I actually gave away my privacy. I resisted for a while, and then decided that I would consciously give away my privacy in exchange for the delicious geekiness of moving faster, doing more online, and living with the illusion that I am somehow more productive. My calendar is available on my Treo, my iPod and laptop and my desktop and I can share it out to whoever I want. Meetings can be still quite unproductive, but I feel more efficient knowing that I can look to see what I am up to at any point during the day from virtually anywhere. Seems silly that I have so many devices, but for now, this will do to raise my geek esteem. I digress.

So do you think that you are a private person who has managed to protect your privacy in an increasingly un-private world? Consider this:

1. Google knows when you are bad and when you are good. Think about all the things, pleasures, treatments, fun-things-to-do, people, secrets that you have shared with Google simple by typing into that innocuous search box. Everything starts there, and they keep records.
2. And that search engine you use (Google or not) can not only point to all your search queries in the last few years, but heck, it can show people where you live. Give them directions to, and a picture of, your house (I am going to pretend that I still hold a vestige of privacy close to my heart, and instead of showing you my house, I invite you to look at yours from space by going to Google Maps or flying over your neighbourhood by downloading Google Earth)
3. Most websites are unscrupulous about sharing your personal information even when they cut and paste a good looking privacy policy from their competitor’s website. Take a look at some of the complaints about this on this website. I continue to receive emails from Dell even after trying many times to "unsubscribe" from their newsletters (which I never signed up for in the first place). Serves me right for giving my real email address just to buy a computer or two!
4. The average Brit is photographed some 300 times each day by surveillance cameras. North America is not far behind.

So what does privacy amount to today? A lot of revenue for some companies for one. They trade, sell, buy, coerce and steal the private information of the average joe blow, just to sell them the right things at the right time. A qualified customer is a customer that is easier to seduce. If a company knows what you like, they can offer things to you that will more likely meet your needs and tastes. Amazon can attribute this concept of personalized results to much of it’s success. Gmail spiders through emails to provide freakishly topical advertisements that relate to a particular email’s content.

And what we are feeling about privacy right about now? We are being a bit schizophrenic it seems. While we are getting more paranoid about our own privacy, we are also more willingly to give away parts of it in exchange for things that purport to improve our lives somehow.

Privacy is up for grabs.

You too, are OK with giving away your privacy if you got something ‘nice’ in return. Prove value to you, and you will give away information about yourself willingly. Some pieces you hold more dearly, some you don’t. What can be worrying is when people give away privacy unwittingly (careful) or without even being aware of doing so.

I try consciously to choose wisely about how and where I am becoming less private about my life. Why be un-private at all? Because I have realized to get some, I need to give some. If my privacy is worth something to someone else, I may sell it to them. While using fake email addresses and aliases for getting me some things I need to be me, Gagan Diesh from Vancouver BC not Jh from La, Ca, 90210, to get true value.

So who has me? Has me= My personal info in some form that they could use to learn more about me?

• Google grid has me. Whether it is spreadsheets, documents, Gmail or calendar. I am addicted. They all connect so seamlessly and in ways that Microsoft is still trying to work out for their products. My personalized Google page gives me rapid access to my world which Google now controls. I can invite others to collaborate with the real me, and in turn they too become part of Google’s ever expanding world. By the way, you have to watch this video to understand what Google Grid is (and can be) all about.
• Flickr has me. It lets me share my photos with the world. I still keep lots of private photos on Flickr to share with a select few, but every now and then submit to the urge to share photos with strangers.
• Del.icio.us has me. It saves my favorite links from around the world, and allows me to share links with my students and everyone else.
• Paypal has me because I can’t trust making financial transactions with eBay buyers using fake names. So they have access to my bank account and my real name and email address.
• Amazon has me because they offer lovely services like wish lists and easy ways to recommend good books. They also offer cheap books and I don’t have to suffer Vancouver rain to trudge down to my local bookstore. I can order my favorite books from the comfort of my un-private computer desk.
• Skype has me because I use it to talk to clients internationally. Heck when I am lazy I even chat with people on Skype if my phone is in the other room!
• LinkedIn has me because it helps me network professionally and protects me from spam very well.
• My local grocery store has me so I can scan my card and get discounts. They also get to share this info with my AirMiles provider. Suddenly I become a blip on someone’s computer screen each time I buy a family pack of athlete’s foot cream (ewww!).
• Oh my, this list is getting scary… Even my local sandwich deli has me, I keep my "buy 6, get one free" card with my name over there. Heck, did I even enter that draw to win a lunch for my entire office, by giving them my business card? Did I also leave a business card on the bulletin board at my Gym? Networking or privacy risk? Did I also sign up for that gas swipe card so I could pay a zillion dollars for gas more quickly at the pump?

Note to self: Maybe I am just a privacy slut trading my privacy for cheap trinkets?

Ok, I still have boundaries. Kinda.

• I hate Plaxo and all that it purports to do for (to) people. I don’t trust it and with good reason.
• I am wary of registering my software even when I have bought it and not downloaded it. I see no reason to. I have never got better service by doing so.
• I still use email aliases when posting on newsgroups because I can’t stand cluttering searches for my name on Google with outdated screams for tech help or recruiting people.
• I don’t forward jokes. I chastise people for sending out thought viruses (emails that tell you to forward them to others to warn them, bless them, or reward them!)
• I am selective about who I give my email address to, I set up rules to deal with junk and know better than to even open the most amazingly imaginative subject lines (Viagra is so yesterday, spammers are now using a haiku of business talk in the subject line like the one I got today: “Brand motivated faculty”. I almost opened the email, but Gmail protected me by moving it to the spam box automatically)

So maybe I am not so bad. Maybe I still have a vestige of privacy left. Maybe I’ll be ok after all. Maybe I will win a Free iPod if I just answer a few simple questions.