In a New Media World, Is Privacy Dead?

In his classic tale of mind-control and totalitarianism, George Orwell described a world in which pervasive government surveillance was the norm and individual privacy some far-fetched fairy tale of an idea. Indeed, 1984 made waves when it was first published in 1949, and is perhaps even more disturbing sixty years later as our culture moves further and further into living out our lives online — truly, in a New Media world.

Thus my question for this post: Is privacy dead?

This question came to mind today after listening to a close friend tell me he thinks it is. He looks around at trends in our culture and is disturbed by some things he sees happening, mostly because of Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

(Quick sidenote — While I am an active Social Media participant, he is not, and in fact, shuns Facebook and Twitter, and wonders why I would want to “share” so much of myself in these online social hubs.)

“Slowly but surely,” he said, “We are handing over every last right we have to someone else, namely the government, giving every last drop of our most scared selves to them. It won’t be long until every government agency has its nose in our business every single second of the day.”

I understand his concern. I have had it myself. More than once. And I know he is not the only one who thinks this way.

In fact, four self-proclaimed “geeks” from New York City are so concerned about handing over “every last drop” of their privacy to centralized Social Media sites like Facebook, they are fighting back with the creation of open software that will allow people to form their own “decentralized” hubs for social means. Hubs that protect and cherish users’ privacy and keep Big Brother at bay.

You can read their story from the New York Times by clicking here.

What particularly intrigued me about this article is that young people in their teens and twenties who have basically grown up sharing every last bit of daily trivia of their lives online, have a powerful desire for privacy.

Could it be the pendulum is swinging away from the over-exposed, tell-all cultural trend we have seen made popular through reality TV shows like “The Hills” and expose day time talk shows like Jerry Springer et. al.?

I have some friends who were in the Facebook community for a bit but have since closed their accounts, claiming unethical practices by the company or breeches of privacy.

And now that Facebook is fast becoming the new Google as a place for marketers and advertisers to promote their goods and services, I wonder how long it will be before we see a massive uprising and subsequent mutiny of Facebook users who take their friends to safer harbors where privacy is golden and never compromised?

What are your thoughts about privacy in Social Media? Has your privacy ever been compromised online? Do you think the loss of privacy is just one of the inevitable side-effects of using the Internet? Please share your stories and thoughts! And if you believe others would find this topic interesting, go ahead and share with your friends!