Publivacy

Today’s new word is…. Publivacy. Have you figured it out? Ok, well it’s a mixture of Public and Privacy. They are two VERY separate words by definition. However, our current society has mixed them together where public has basically overtaken our privacy. Sure, we think we have privacy, but where exactly do you think you have this so-called privacy? Do you think you have it on your phone? Do you think you have it on the computer? Do you think you have it while you’re watching television? Do you even think you have it while you are driving your car down the road? How about while you are walking down the sidewalk? Where does your privacy cease to exist and it becomes public? Is it the moment you step foot outside of your house? Does it start the moment you step foot off your property? Or does it “start” anywhere? Do we even have privacy in this day and age? That’s a lot of thought provoking questions so let’s get started with the article.

Do we have privacy? It’s really just a simple yes or no question. There is no gray area because either it’s true or false. You cannot have partial privacy that makes entirely no sense. Either you have total and complete privacy or none at all. So, back to the question, do we have ANY privacy? I believe we still have some minor amounts of privacy in our lives. However, even the most private place as your bedroom can be invaded without a physical intruder. The only true privacy exists in your mind. Thoughts are the only truly private function of our lives. Our world and society has ventured down the path that everything in our world is available for public consumption. Let’s go through a few examples.

Celebrities are an extreme example of the lack of privacy. Everywhere they go a few carloads of photographers are following their every move trying to find that one great photo for their career. The paparazzi have super telephoto lenses that allow them to sit on “public” property and capture the PRIVATE lives of their targets. Sure, some celebrities threaten to sue for the content of the photos because they were taken “illegally,” but how many of them come to fruition? Not many and even fewer are stricken down as illegal activities. Even if it gets that far, the damage has been done and the information has been released. You cannot put the air back in the popped balloon. Lives have been damaged and who pays the price? The targets of course pay the ultimate price with their privacy being destroyed. Do the celebrities follow the paparazzi around and take photos of their family and intimate relationships? Why do we accept this behavior just because it’s being done to celebrities? Money maybe or maybe it’s the need to see people with money in pain, or maybe it’s just a plain old voyeuristic tendency being fulfilled.

In our own lives, our privacy has diminished to a point where we cannot fully trust that we have any privacy at all. Are our phone calls recorded and tracked? Are our habits watching television being used against us? Are our purchases at the grocery store being tracked? Are our internet searches really anonymous? What exactly are those cameras doing on the stop lights? What about the cameras tracking people on the sidewalks? What about the latest technology which has cameras on billboards to track people and their habits? Some of these are within our own home, some outside. However, are any of them right or ethical? Do we really have any privacy? Have you really thought about it? I’m not trying to create a phobia of distrust towards society but privacy has almost been removed from our lives. If you speak it, someone could be listening. If you are anywhere (even inside your own home), someone could be recording you. Even if you decide to become a hermit, you are still without privacy in the way we believe it to be.

Privacy of course has been replaced with my new word, publivacy. We live in a mixture. We go about our lives knowing that we don’t truly have privacy but as long as we are not abused personally by the information gathered, we view that as acceptable. Do you care if someone knows what you bought at the grocery store? Do you care if the stop light camera has a photo of your face? Do you care if someone listens in to your phone conversation? Do you care if the broadcasting networks know your viewing habits? Do you care if someone takes pictures of you inside your house? Do you or we care? Not enough it appears or we wouldn’t have this issue to talk about. Do we care because we believe that all of this information is not directly harmful to our personal well being? How do you know that for a fact?

What this boils down to is information. Information is one of the keys to money in the current system and the future. The more information governments and corporations have, the more money they can extort from society. Let’s look at how some of this can lead to pulling more money from your wallet. All of the information they are gleaning from our lives are sent to a central database. Researches can then analyze the statistics and provide relevant information to those in power. Track where we go, what we buy, what we watch, who we talk to and then formulate a plan of control. Why do you think stores love debit and credit cards? Why do you think almost every major purchase (and a growing amount of minor purchases) you partake in requires a credit card on file or driver’s license on file, etc? Information is the key. Sure, there are still a lot of cash transactions in our world, but video surveillance is still available. What established business have you been in that doesn’t have a security camera? At least the majority of these are not tied to some centralized database, but yet, the information is there available to be retrieved. In the future, these cameras will be digital only and connected to some central storage facility. The time will come.

So what do we get out of this article other than a sickening and saddening feeling? I don’t want everyone who reads this to think that everyone is out to get them. But, I want people to understand that privacy does not exist as we previously thought. It only truly exists within our minds. The government and corporations have allowed the destruction of our privacy for the gains made possible through advanced information gathering. As we go forward, remember to keep an eye out for technologies that advance the methods of recording what we do. Watch for facial recognition cameras, microchips implanted for “medical” reasons, and digital technology of any kind that can be used for “marketing” research. The future is coming with all of the above and some are in existence already in an early stage. That cell phone you carry with a location device in it, that car with the computer chip in it, that debit card that you use, and even your Tivo at home are culprits of the destruction of our privacy. Live your life, but remember your only true privacy exists within your mind’s eye.