Desensitization as a privacy harm

“The Internet age means that a whole generation is accustomed to the idea that their digital lives are essentially in the public domain ” say Tyler Dawson in the Ottawa Citizen. While I’m not sure I agree with Mr. Dawson’s stereotyping a generation, I get his drift in terms of what I term desensitization. That is the idea that increase scrutiny into one’s private life leads to increased expectation of that scrutiny and thus reduced moral outrage.

In risk analysis we often look towards objective consequential harms or damages that may occur as the result of some action or inaction. The prototypical example is the risk of financial theft as a result of having one’s credit card or identity stolen. And while tangible harm is certainly important it is not the only type of damage that may result. Courts are loathe to recognize intangible harms, such as emotional distress, except in rare circumstances. But very few people would deny the very intangible harms to one’s psyche if nude photos were to be circulated of oneself (unless of course one is in the business of circulating such pictures). Many privacy harms are ethereal. Very few of us would be comfortable with the notion of constant surveillance by someone without our consent, even if nothing could ever affect us in a tangible way. I remember being provided a thought experiment at one point. If a space alien could use a telescope and follow your every movement, see everything you do, inspect every thought in your head, does a privacy harm exists? If you knew about this observation does that change your answer? Many people would feel judged in their behavior and thoughts and may alter their routine to prevent adverse judgment about them. I, as would others, would argue that is sufficient to rise to the level of a privacy harm. You are having to change your thoughts and behaviors as a result of the invasion into your personal space.

I return then to the idea of desensitization. The constant surveillance and invasion of privacy changes our social mores. It alters our thoughts and feelings towards the very notion of privacy and does so without our consent. To that extent, I would suggest that invasion without consent itself is a privacy harm. There need not be anything else.

 

2014 Privacy New Year’s resolution: dump Google.

For years, I was a big fan of Google. It just had some awesome services and generally seemed to be a good company but I’ve lost most faith. It’s too big, too all consuming, too powerful and ultimately too Evil. I’ve been SLOWLY moving away from Google for the past 2 years but it’s been a slow migration. I have most of my business mail now going to @privacymaverick, @enterprivacy and @rjcesq.com emails. I still need to get my personal mail off Gmail. Also last year, I moved this blog as well as a few others off blogger.com. I’ve never really used G+ though my email does have an account that I keep having problems as a result of. (Don’t get me started about it).

I still have many other services that I need to extract myself from. Luckily Google isn’t evil in letting people leave.  I still need to get off Calendar and Docs. However, the biggest challenge is going to be Android. I certainly don’t want to go to Apple. I hate the closed ecosystem they represent. Windows phone perhaps? How is Firefox OS doing?

On another completely unrelated note, over at Enterprivacy Consulting Group‘s blog, I talk about the lessons from Snapchat and the perils of investing in technology without considering privacy.