Body Scans and WikiLeaks

I also like David Friedman's discussion of transparency in Future Imperfect. He makes the interesting point that in the real world, we will see increasing transparency in our lives and in those who govern.

But online or in cyberworlds, strong-privacy will rule.

Unless someone develops mosquito sized cameras to watch us at our lap tops.

Privacy is dead. Deal with it.

The problem with declining privacy is that we still get most of our information through selective channels. This gives everything a sense of import, even when it's actually unrepresentative or without real impact.

Transparency isn't the problem, it's that the systems which use it put information under a lens, magnifying small things and causing disproportionate damage or concern.

Basically, when you hear it from a friend, you know it's gossip and that it won't have a lot of impact on your opinion, even if true. But when that same gossip is broadcast on CNN, it gains a sense of import because we expect CNN to be selecting important information.