Privacy Is Endangered

There are a couple of issues in this story for me. One is that like many people I enjoy the capabilities that new technology can confer. In this case the ease of tagging pictures by having software identify faces in photos. What we need to get better at is seeing the downsides. I'm concerned therefore at the growth and extension of the participatory panopticon where surveillance is privatised and thereby deregulated. Why worry? Well...

If someone posts a photo that includes me, people who see the photo will see my face, but they almost certainly will have no idea who I am. If the photo is tagged with my name, a stranger who likes the way I look can then find out more about me. A prospective employer looking for more information about me can search my name and find the picture.
The privacy principles that made sense in the analog world do not make sense in a digital one. Historical assumptions about the relationship between being seen and being tracked have expired. We have to face these facts, or we'll miss the bigger picture.
Transplant surgery is too extreme for most of us. But cheap, ubiquitous and persistent searchability will forever change what it means to have your picture taken. Our reaction as citizens and as policy makers has to be balanced as well. Search is great. It's being found that's the problem.

Wired News: Face It: Privacy Is Endangered: Filed in: biometrics, facial_recognition, privacy
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