The Giant Log called WWW

There seems to be a common theme throughout the articles concerning the automation of information retrieval, logging, and processing that may ultimately threaten its subjects when it is collected by the wrong people. Marks focuses on the data-mining projects of the NSA, George and St. John look at potential employer reactions to the revealing personal pages of their applicants, and Gefter examines participatory services that keep track of our online footsteps. There are flaws in the assumptions of privacy users make with these circumstances, as most (if not all) the information mined is already made public electronically – as St. John puts it, the miner is just doing the “heavy lifting”. Take, for instance, the email you sent me last week. I’ve read the header, found your IP address, linked you with the campus directory, and maintain all this data in a profile of you along with a distinct 3D location I’ve created with Google Earth. At the push of a button, I can submit this information to millions of Google users, allowing access not only to your digital address but to a very specific real-world location. Imagine if I did that with every email recipient in my address book, along with a screenshot of their desktop (hey, did you pay for that copy of Office?). Online identity, while certainly fluid and potentially anonymous, issues no guarantees of privacy/anonymity. Digital documentation is considerably more dangerous than the traditional paper, as it brings copies, manipulations, and distributions to a new level – often without substantial evidence of the infractions taking place. No system is totally secure, so the only true safeguard is to refrain from use, and no one wants to do that. In the end, all you can do is limit. Just think of all the cool stuff Google knows about you.