Is Privacy an Outdated Concept?

I attended a talk tonight at UofT's iSchool Institute by Canadian science fiction author Robert Sawyer. He spoke on his belief of the outdated notion of privacy. In writing this blog post a paradox of privacy of mine occurred to me - I was hesitant to use his name as whenever I name a person or company on this blog, I inevitably receive an email or comment from them (okay this hasn't always proven the case as with my mentions of Beyonce or Shakira). Even though I publish this article in a public space, it still feels like an invasion when I hear from the people I'm talking about. I often find myself censoring myself so that I can maintain my sense of broadcasting my private thoughts.

I realize this behaviour is at odds with itself - but as raised in tonight's talk we (particularly my generation) are in a transitional phase from a having sense of privacy to the realization that privacy is dead. Sawyer argued that we only ever protected our privacy for two reasons: shame and wrong-doing. When societal values were more restrictive we guarded our personal lives to fit in and prevent societal repercussions. As more things become tolerable in our society this is no longer necessary. The latter point is where Sawyer mostly focused. He noted that with destructive weaponry becoming more powerful and harder to detect, it will become increasingly possible for those full of hate or for mad scientists to annihilate humanity. So notions of privacy must be put aside for our protection and preservation. He asked, can we now truly afford privacy?

Sawyer noted, however, that this is largely a moot point anyway as corporations already have access to extensive information about us. And moreover we have willing given companies our privacy (whether or not we were beguiled to do so).

An audience member objected that people do not in fact wittingly give up their privacy. I wanted to chime in that this was not necessarily true as I have given up a lot of private info about myself to the mobile app Foursquare fully knowing what I was giving up. Hell, I was even hopeful that giving up this info would result in more corporate invasion of my "private space" to offer me even paltry deals. Air Miles knows tons about me, and I LOVE all the free trips I've gotten from them.

Some of the audience were rankled by Sawyer's provocative assertion that privacy is dead (or rather reassertion as he and other technologists have noted this for years). Sawyer noted that already the boat has sailed on this (or as he said the "aircraft carrier") and it is impossible now to stop people from releasing info to companies. Instead he argued that we need to learn how to live with this new reality and to enact policy against the misuse of personal info.

I agree with Sawyer that people are too busy and too impressed with using tech like Facebook or Google to start en masse to recapture and to assert their privacy. Some believe that caring about protecting privacy is a generational one - as witness to the tons of Facebook users who don't ever change their default settings and then publish the most intimate details of their lives. I don't feel that this is generational. I may not post drunken photos of myself but in general I don't really care about privacy discussions or policy.

The only reason I went to see Sawyer speak on this topic tonight is that I loved the TV series based on his book FlashForward and that my wife recommended him as a speaker after hearing him speak on the human rights of clones and robots.

Still the privacy session was interesting and Sawyer read amply from his works. Including a new trilogy (begins with Wake) on what happens when the world wide web gains intelligence. Now that is a topic I care about.

Answering the question which Answer service is best?

I had a couple issues come up in the last few days that I wanted guidance. So I decided to try LinkedIn’s new (launched January 2007) Answers service. I also posed a similar question to Yahoo Answers (launched Dec. 2005).

These Answer services aren't much different than a standard web forum, but the presentation is definitely better and there is a focus on answering a specific question rather than having threaded discussions. (Google also had an answer service staffed by experts charging for answers, but this was shut down last December.)

LinkedIn and Yahoo Answers are fairly similar. You need an account with Yahoo or LinkedIn (if you’re not familiar with the many benefits of joining LinkedIn see my post HyperLinkedIn).

Once you are member, you can pose a finite number of questions. LinkedIn limits you to five a month and Yahoo has a point system that limits how many questions you can pose (basically you have to answer others’ questions to get points to be able to pose your questions – but Yahoo starts you off with a bunch, so you can easily test it out). Both will email you when you get a response (which typically happens in the first couple days and then that's it) and both seem to offer RSS subscription to the topics and questions. Both also allow you to vote on the best answer.

Which one is better?
Both are quite useful and were a big help. Both also have problems that are based more on human nature than any technical glitch. In Yahoo’s case, I found people were posting stupid responses just to get points, and in LinkedIn’s case some were posting inappropriate responses for self-promotion. Wikipedia offers a good look at other criticism of Yahoo Answers.

Overall, I slightly prefer LinkedIn as it gives the opportunity to pose questions only to your network and I think that in helps build community that may lead to new contacts.

As per my previous post, I was thinking wouldn’t it be great if Shakira was on LinkedIn? The questions I have for her.

Shakira on MySpace and I asked her if she’ll be my friend. I had to ask the PussyCat Dolls three times to be my friend before they’d finally have me. Sucks to be turned down by former burlesque dancers, even if they are all gorgeous and can actually sing (seriously, I have their album and it's good!)

Shakira, if you’re listening please join LinkedIn!

Naming dropping online works

I was doing a vanity google today, as I am wont to do. Not much new on the Glen Farrelly front. There is that other Glen Farrelly (well, there are several) that is doing a charity trek soon for testicular cancer called "Say Balls to Cancer".

Not seeing much action with any of my entries coming up in normal search or Technorati and no one is linking to me (I'd have to have someone reading this first, eh).

I did learn that I don't need to embed the special Technorati tags for them to work in Technorati's tag search. Technorati can now read Blogger's "Labels". This has the added benefit of having a search and archive method available on the right-hand side here.

So back to the my online presence or lack thereof - that is until my post two days ago. The post about the search queries of Americans vs. Canadians.

Even though I was reprinting Yahoo's results all the name dropping worked!

Just the mention of Beyonce got me posted on an all Beyonce news site. Jessica Simpson did likewise. But it was my beloved Shakira that really got results. There was serious pick-up of my blog entry from various Shakira sites.

So thank you Shakira, wherever, whenever you may be.

All my months of diligently and, if I do say so myself, insightful blogging have not paid off. But one entry mentioning hot celebs and Bob's my uncle or rather Paris Hilton's my aunt.

How do Canadians & Americans differ? NHL vs. Britney

I just got the latest issue of Backbone Magazine, a Canadian tech and business magazine. I should be reading the cover story on the top 300 Canadian tech companies, but what struck me is an item they had on Canadians vs. Americans top search queries on Yahoo last year.

Yahoo compiled the top searches for 2006 and the results reveal a lot about each country's national character. Neither country comes off looking particularly erudite, we just exchange one shameless pop-culture obsession for another.

Top 10 Canadian searches
1. NHL
2. FIFA World Cup
3. American Idol
4. Rock Star Supernova
5. WWE
6. Neopets
7. Revenue Canada
8. Days of Our Lives
9. Environment Canada
10. Jessica Simpson

Top 10 U.S. searches
1. Britney Spears
2. WWE
3. Shakira
4. Jessica Simpson
5. Paris Hilton
6. American Idol
7. Beyonce Knowles
8. Chris Brown
9. Pamela Anderson
10. Lindsay Lohan

NHL vs. Britney - that really sums up the difference between Canada and the U.S.

Despite our differences though, we both share a great love and obsession with Jessica Simpson, wrestling (WWE) and American Idol.

At least, Canada has some items on our top ten that aren't embarrassing - though it is embarrassing that Shakira didn't show up. I'm sure I searched for her enough times to get her on the list. But then I guess search logs, like hips, don't lie!

Another interesting point, the American show Rock Star Supernova appears on Canada's list (as Canadians won both seasons) and Canadian superstar Pamela Anderson doesn't appear on our list. Guess we're all residents of a dorky global village now.

While Revenue Canada is on the top ten for Canada, I can't imagine the IRS appearing too highly in American queries. But then as the saying goes "Canada is the only country where an accountant is a national hero".

Biggest surprise: Days of Our Lives. I had no idea that show was so popular with my countrymen. I can' t believe it beat the great totality of my searches for Shakira????