Last night The Open Rights Group hosted an event called Resisting The All Seeing Eye with Cory Doctorow and Charlie Stross. I couldn't go because it was in London and train and accommodation fees would cripple me and leave nothing to donate to ORG. It did mean I got to go see Mark Thomas at the Parr Hall and have my policy suggestion of "force events to happen OUTSIDE London" read out and summarily dismissed as the gig was outside London.

Anyhoots, just before setting out for the Mark Thomas gig, @graphiclunarkid tweeted a comment by Charlie Stross.

In C20th privacy meant no witnesses. We're now moving into an era where there will always be a digital witness. -- Stross #ase

This is starting to hint towards an idea that's been rumbling round my head for a while: that there's a different culture around where lines around privacy and longevity are drawn.

I tend not to talk about work much; I deal with individual confidential issues and as an employee of a member (student) led organisation I should avoid commenting on union policy. However, through my job, I have noticed though that issues related to this culture clash are starting to spring up.

Facebook and Twitter encourage off the cuff, quick, reactionary, immediate communication - the type you would find in conversation amongst friends. The type which would previously have been considered private rather than public. Obviously, these comments aren't private in the C20th manner Stross refers to above. Even where the account is protected to just friends, the definition of friend on these sites is widely different to how it's used in the real, 3 dimensional world. Additionally, everyone has multiple personas in the real world. Things you say quite happily around your friends in the pub are not things you would say to your workmates. Social Networking has homogenised these groups. Things you say to your friend can often be in both the spheres of private intent and public consumption simultaneously.

There is another paradox at play here. The off the cuff, quick, reactionary, immediate communication style in real life is also transitory. There is no record. There is no proof other than memory of those directly involved. Twitter and Facebook record everything; allow you to search everything. You want to show something, you probably can. The remarks you make are now in the spheres of transitory intent and permanent reality simultaneous.

Digital Culture accepts and embraces these paradoxes. Real Life doesn't. It's when Real Life interacts with your Digital Life that problems can and will arise. It's the boss who isn't integrated into Digital Culture that you friend on facebook who sees a quick, off the cuff joke in poor taste that is then attributed to your beliefs and work-persona. It's the person finding that comment and using it against you. This problem is ten times worse where laws and codes of practice cannot distinguish and resolve these paradoxes.

I hope it gets better. I hope the media and the government stop promoting a witch hunt culture which currently pervades Real Life and threatens the Digital Ecosystem. I hope we can defend it where government won't.

Alex
x x