I’ve been thinking about privacy a lot over the last few
months. The revelation that Angela Merkel’s mobile phone had been tapped by the
Americans and then that we had been listening into the Indonesian President’s wife’s
phone calls troubled me. I was entertained (?) by the commentary that followed
and the responses of the ‘guilty’ (read ‘caught out’) parties that ‘everyone
does it’. I was appalled that most people seemed to think that was an ok
defence. And yet…
When I was growing up there were two almost inviolate things
a ‘grown up’ could do to a kid – enter their bedroom without knocking (if at
all) and to read their diary. At this point in my life I’m less convinced it
was about keeping secrets as it was about being a kid and telling the oldies to
back off. Nevertheless it was also a rite of passage to understand limits,
freedoms and keeping things personal and private. Even now I think that it is
important to maintain my privacy, have my own ‘thoughts’, have conversations
with ‘me’ that aren’t shared or available to anyone else. There lie my
prejudices, my hopes, my fears and those sometimes troubling mind meanders that
occasionally make me wonder ‘where the hell did that come from’. If you read
this blog regularly (sorry) you may often have similar thoughts about me.
The lines of privacy today of course are blurred. The
‘coalition of the all too willing to participate in social networking’ has
ensured that. People now put their innermost thoughts, feelings and rants on
Fakebook, Twitspace, Wanko or whatever. Many are incredibly ‘brave’ in the
things they’ll say about each other, often things they’d never say to their
face. People are judged (and consequently often bullied) by their sometimes ill
thought out words, stands they take or banal commentary. Assumptions are made
and inaccurate characterisations follow.
You want to read today’s version of a diary? Pop onto social
media and it is all there for you to lap up should that float your boat. It’s
not even hidden, it’s just there.
It amuses me when I challenge someone about the information
they are prepared to ‘share’ on line. It’s usually ‘I haven’t got anything
they’d want to look at’ or ‘I’m pretty careful about who I let see my site’
etc, we all suddenly believe we have a part of ourselves that is invisible, we
are less interesting and yet something inside us says ‘look at me I am worth
paying heed to’. This is how celebrity becomes so attractive. And of course
there are some who just think it’s all an oversensitivity and really there is
nothing to be concerned about, privacy schivacy! Ok, for all those in that camp
pop through your PINs and Passwords to me and we’ll see how private you
suddenly become!
I don’t know exactly when it became ok to know each other’s
business and to have an appetite but I find it all unseemly. Consumer advocates
in the 90’s were outraged at the kind of information that was freely spread
around and shared by companies, governments and mostly anyone. As a result
Australia introduced some of the tightest and protective Privacy Laws in the
world. We complain when we’re asked ‘security questions’ or to identify
ourselves and yet so many of us post the most intimate of information about
ourselves on line. Is this some kind of madness or what?
Want to know someone’s relationship status? Hop on line and
you’ll get the latest, you will probably even get details and, super doper,
they might jump onto Coward’s Castle ‘Twitter’ and post something shocking or
slanderous about their ex. Sure they’ll withdraw the Tweet later ‘horrified if
I caused hurt or embarrassment’ but the carefully thought out damage will
already have been done, there’ll be screen shots to ensure no one will miss it.
So Angela Merkel and Mrs Yudhoyono can just suck it up it
seems. They have no rights to privacy,
they can have no secrets, what they say to family members and friends is as up
for grabs as what they say to their ministers or leaders of other countries.
Because ‘everyone does it’, because somewhere on the net it will be written or
speculated on at least. We cannot quake in horror though because we do it to
ourselves and expect it of others.
Let’s not forget though that human rights once surrendered
are almost impossible to get back. We’ve seen that since 9/11. Australia’s ‘spy’
agency ASIO has some of the toughest security laws in the world (tougher than
the UK and some of the US laws), particularly on detention without charge,
right to a lawyer and the right to refuse to answer questions. And I worry that
is the same for privacy, especially that of individuals. And as for our
secrets, well give it up kids you no longer have any…and you probably don’t
care. Nothing enlivens a Government more than apathy, it’s ‘go for it’ time.
Just look at the stuff Edward Snowden and Wiki leaks have uncovered and that we
now know all our tweets, emails and texts are monitored and someone else
decides whether they are of use or not.
So as the US dares to threaten trial and detention of its
citizens and honourable, brave people such as Snowden, Manning and Assange for
alerting us to things that are, in my opinion, plain wrong, invasive, hideous
and unsettling we need to remember something basic: think before you speak,
tweet, email, fbook or phone.
They’re out there
They’re listening
And your problem would be?
