[tags]privacy, fear[/tags]

I’ve always thought of myself as an intensely private person, but in the last four years this attitude has been turned on its head.  My purchase of a computer and introduction to the Internet was the beginning.  My meeting and subsequent marriage to a man who is, for all intents and purposes, fearless has had a profound influence on my thinking.  Look at the preceeding sentence and ask yourself these questions: Is privacy about fear?  Don’t many of us look at people we call fearless and envy them?  Is there room in my life for fear?

How much privacy we need is about the personal decisions we make every day, many times a day.  When I’m at home the drapes are open, anyone outside can look in and see what I’m doing. What am I doing? Things that a billion other people are doing in their homes every day; kissing my husband, reading, cooking, eating, cleaning, sitting at the computer, taking care of mom, playing with the dog, etc..  No big deal.  If I need more privacy, I close the drapes or go into another room and close the door.

Today’s young people have an advantage over us oldsters, they’re growing up in a world that’s more open, more dynamic, smaller (via the Internet) and yet larger than we could have imagined just a few years ago.  They’re smarter, faster, more worldly-wise and tougher than we were.  For a short time, people who would take advantage of the young, naive or unwary used the new technology to their advantage, but the young once again have adapted and overcome that advantage to make a world they’re comfortable in.  We all benefit as a result.

I’m not sure I’ll ever be as “out there” as many are, but the notion that we can be honest and forthright and not pay a heavy toll is intriguing and very attractive.  I’ve just read Emily Nussbaum’s article “Say Everything”  (http://nymag.com/news/features/27341/) and enjoyed it very much.

Googling the terms “privacy” and “personal privacy” yielded a lot of information relating to medical, legal, and security issues, but virtually nothing in what personal privacy means to individuals on the Internet.  What do you think?