***Privacy, what happened to tack***

This was in our paper today and I found it very interesting and I feel so much of it true. What are your thoughts and pls feel free to disagree.

My main thought is why do people have to know every breath you take like on Twitter and Facebook unless you are networking and then demand privacy?? Anyway this is the article.

http://www.ohio.com/editorial/commentary/81912012.html

Re: ***Privacy, what happened to tack***

I read that in the Washington Post, buzzie, and agree completely with Gerson.
If it's personal, don't post it where anyone and his brother can see it forever. And, who really cares about your musical tastes or bra color? I fail to see the joys of Twitter and Facebook. If you expect privacy there, more fool you! And I think that policeman was a complete idiot!

Re: ***Privacy, what happened to tack***

I was once a housekeeper to a vicar in a small village. He asked me not to hang his underwear on the line `because it`ll be all round the village in 20 minutes what sort I wear`.
Anyone who has lived in a tight community will recognise the thirst for knowing the minutae of your neighbours` lives, and the way gossip spreads like wildfire via the post office or pub.
Now most people don`t even know the person next door, and have a limited circle of friends, I think the urge to socialise has been taken up by TV soaps and random gossip. So our `pseudo celebrities` - people famous for being famous - stand in for `her down the road` who we used to gossip about. This is only an extension of that.

Re: ***Privacy, what happened to tack***

I think you have a very valid point there, Claire! The illusion of intimacy and belonging.

Re: ***Privacy, what happened to tack***

It's going to be a huge problem over time .... because nothing is ever forgotten or deleted. What on earth would someone like, err, say Richard Branson or, well anybody in any official or authorititive position feel when they are 55 and somebody trawls the www for ridiculous things they might have said/posted about when they were 22? Keeping a diary and publishing selected extracts whilst you are alive is one thing; allowing full publication after death is another, but who wants their youthful excesses or emotions hanging round their neck like a cyber-albatross?

Re: ***Privacy, what happened to tack***

An old proverb relates the story of a person who repeated gossip – some rumor about a
neighbor. Soon, the whole community had heard the rumor. Later, the person who spread
the gossip learned that the rumor was untrue. The person was very sorry and went to an
elder in the community who had a reputation for great wisdom to seek advice. The elder
told the person, “Go to your home and take a feather pillow outside. Rip it open and
scatter the feathers, then return to me tomorrow.” The person did as the elder had
instructed. The next day, the person visited the elder. The elder said, “Go and collect the
feathers you scattered yesterday and bring them back to me.” The person went home and
searched for the feathers, but the wind had carried them all away. The person returned to
the elder and said, “I could find none of the feathers I scattered yesterday.” “You see,”
said the elder, “it’s easy to scatter the feathers but impossible to get them back.” So it is
with gossip; it doesn’t take much to spread hurtful words, but once you do, you can never
completely undo the damage.
Then add the internet to it and ask for privacy, it's just about impossible.

Re: ***Privacy, what happened to tack***

Great proverb, DM! Really applies, doesn't it?