Privacy
“The mass adoption of the internet stuck the final nail into the coffin of privacy – but how many regular people realise what kind and how much data is being gathered, analysed, shared and used by brands and authorities? As awareness grows, will we find ourselves in a situation where we take back control of our personal data – and even sell parts of it to companies we want to buy services from.”

http://www.root.net

Also, check out the EFF (http://www.eff.com) has to say on the matter.

http://www.livework.co.uk/home/projects/loome.html

Business Week on Loome.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2002/tc20021121_8723.htm

Turns the model of data on its head and puts the creator of data in control of it and turns it into a value for all. Has the potential to design out a lot of waste by addressing the assumptions business make about consumers… Put me in control of my data and I will tell you exactly who I am and what I want.

Another is connectedness. Look at you and I, we wouldn’t know each
other if we didn’t believe in opening up our data/online identity to
the world. There are endless possibilities that can come out of these
relationships, but they won’t start if you are not willing to expose
yourself. Ultimately I believe that by knowing I have no privacy I’m
much better able to control it. There are lots of
companies/people/etc. spying on me, but I’m also spying on myself and
using that data for good.

Ok – the following is a stream of consciousness that needs to be refined but it runs like this:

In the future we’re going to sit in one of two groups – the paranoid and the socially evolved. The paranoid will spend their lives fearful of brands, companies and individuals who seem to be constantly keeping tabs on them. Everytime they remove a can of cola from their fridge, every time they carry their mobile phone, everytime they interface with the web – they know they’re being watched and analysed. Numbers will be crunched by speedy computers. Predictions about their shopping habits, their health, their politics, their attitudes will be created. The paranoid will make attempts to shield their identity – they will choose software that hides them, they will give false names and shop with certain companies they can trust.

This of course will be foolish because the computers will be able to track you down no matter how hidden you are, your name will match a database of all your other false names – and the stores and brands you trust are just like all the others – just branded to make you feel safer.

This networking of personal data could seem an Orwellian nightmare – but to the socially evolved, it’s will provide a playground of connections and creativity.

The socially evolved will take control of their profile. Just like we today dress in a certain way to reflect who we are, the occasion we’re attending – even how we feel, we will dress ourselves in the future – just in terms of information.

The socially evolved will have grown up as always-on. Instead of hiding from the limelight, they will revel in the opportunities the sharing of personal information will grant them. Evolution will take place through understanding and then manipulating of our data.

It all started with the popularisation of blogging and social networking. These developments allowed people to present themselves how they want to be seen. Of course, many people hid behind masks at first – until the online world started to impact their offline world.

Today in the future, by presenting information on who they are – by giving away what was once considered personal – they can find new friends, new jobs, new products and services, new lives.

Personal information was misundertood. Your school, age, post code was thought to be private – when in the end, it said very little about you. It was your niche interests, your quirks, your connections that said more about you than any demographic.

Using tools that were developed back then, we can monitor what people know about us. What websites learn from our browsing, where the phone companies think we are, what products brands think we’d be interested in. And because we know all this – we can do two things: we can change our behavior to make people know us better or not – and we can tell companies, brands and governments when they’re wrong.

But more importantly, the more we share about us, the more our lives will evolve – we’ll meet new people, we’ll be introduced to things we are introduced to, we’ll create new art, music, entertainment together, we’ll evolve our conversations with likeminded people. And alongside this, brands will understand us better – they’ll know what we like, what we want – and they’ll also get to know how to talk to us – whether we want an ad in our magazines, an disney-like experience. We will also trade our information with brands for cash or samples.

NEED GOOD, OUT THERE EXAMPLES.

In the end, a lot of these discussions will come down to regional / national / international standards on data collection & usage, and the economic incentives that will encourage us to let corporations use that data.

Me, I drive fast. So I’d have to get insurance that’s at least 65% cheaper … and buy the one marked for “fast drivers who’ve never had accidents but often speed”. Don’t laugh. Betcha it’s coming ….

(P.S. Who’s the “Johnny V”? Here I thought I was alone all these years ….

Red Coat, Black Coat v.1

It’s about that time again and Steve grabs his black mac to go and meet his one and only real friend Jill. As he wraps it round him, he looks at the corners of his room, he looks out of his window then slips out of his front door without making a sound.

Wrapped in his black coat, to anyone who spots him, Steve looks paranoid – trying to hide. In fact, Steve doesn’t just look paranoid. He is paranoid. Paranoid everytime he swipes his card to get into work, everytime he has to carry a mobile phone, everytime he chats on the web, everytime he removes the last can of soda from his fridge. He’s being watched. He knows it. Unknown organisations are watching his movements, brands are watching his consumption, details of every action Steve takes is being crunched by speedy computers that predict. Computers that predict Steve’s shopping habits, health habits, voting habits, sexual habits. Steve tries to shield himself from what he calls an invasion of privacy. He uses software to mask his identity, he gives false names, he uses alternative underground brands.

Jill leaves her house in her red coat and as she strolls down the street everyone seems to know her even if they haven’t met him before

Unlike paranoid Steve, Jill is considered as the socially evolved. It’s not only her red coat that presents an image to the world of how she wants to be seen – Jill understands and manipiulates how the world sees her, how companies see her, how her friends see her. Using technology that was developed maybe twenty years ago, Jill knows nearly everything everybody else knows about her. And in the same way she uses his bright red coat to make a statement about himself, she manages the data about herself to present the image she wants.

Information is like fashion – to be use, shown off and even bartered with. Her friend Steve hates people even knowing about his name – but what does a name really say about Jill. Or the school she went to, the color of her skin or her date of birth. Jill is Jill. Or the Jill she wants you and the companies who want to sell to her think she is.

Of course people know about Jill through her blog where she talks about all the things she wants to talk about. And as she’s chatted to other bloggers, she’s found other likeminded souls. And that’s how she’s found new friends she’s never have met before – even been contacted by a company that may have a job for someone just like her.

At the bus station, Steve pays cash for his ticket in the machine. He doesn’t see the idling bus change its number and chug forward to the stop to take him on his way.

Meanwhile, at the subway Jill uses his frequent user reward to travel for free.

On the bus, Steve pulls the collars of his coat around his ears to try to stop the blare from the ads. Papered on the back of seats, the graphics try to sell him shampoo, cheap holidays and a magazine for retirees.

Jill’s subway ride is silent. It’s peaceful – with the ad panels temporarily turned down to let her enjoy the great tunes her music player has selected from a global jukebox. All this peace kindly brought to her by Target stores.

At the café, Jill’s drink, the coffee makers start her mocha just as she enters the store. Just in time – Jill’s heavy with shopping bags as she just saw the greatest clothes to match her Red Coat in the window of her favorite fashion store down the way.

By the time Steve makes it to the café, he’s a mess – harassed by the world around him. The staff behind the counter guess the fake name he was going to give but they wrongly guess the drink he was going to have. He’ll have to wait until they make the drink again.

“Don’t worry. Come over and meet my new friends,” she says as she waves to a table or people.

“How do you get to meet new people like you?” Steve says.

“I haven’t yet. I met them though the blog.”

“But they look like they know you well…”

“It’s the coat,” Jill replies pointing out their red coats too.

The following is a write up of my notes I prepared for an appearance on the BBC World Service show Culture Shock about the state of piracy (Monday Oct 9 2006). Some of this is based on PSFK.com reader comments