Privacy Online??

"Computer systems are not at their core technologies of emancipation. They are technologies of control" (The Big Switch--pg. 191).

photo from Creative Commons: ckschleg

As I read this section, I honed in on "You have zero privacy." I guess I have thought this for a while, but I didn't totally get what it meant. AND for a pretty boring person like me, it's not really that big of a deal. I mean, I erased my history when I knew I was pregnant, and didn't want my friends and family to know yet, but it wasn't anything that was that damaging. This knowledge that we don't have privacy--that computers actually have control of all we do is a bit frightening. The scariest part, is most of us don't even know how much freedom we have given up (I certainly don't think about it that often--or I just brush it off, for the convenience of the web!)

So what does this mean for libraries?? In schools, it means we need to be doing a better job of teaching our students about privacy issues on the internet. Most kids know not to give out their private home information--they don't probably know that they are connected to a search history in which they can be identified (wow--I didn't know it was that easy!). It may mean that library computers and the multitude of people that search on them can help keep some patron privacy--letting the user have some control back..

As I sit here and type this blog post, I am logged into google--I've now searched privacy, keep out, and did some reading about the same sex marriage debate. Yikes--what are they collecting about me? And, even if I log out, I am still identifiable. I'm now wracking my brain about all the stuff I have researched on my own computers. 

We have a BIG job ahead of us--perhaps with education, more will jump into the fight.