The End of Privacy

Forenote:
The definition of private data here means non-confidential data while most people would still prefer no one snoop on, are generally available for those who actually look for them. Web history, customer sales records, IP Addresses, phone numbers. I wish to exclude passwords or encryption keys.
Privacy is "the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively".
The end of privacy means the reduced ability to keep things private.

Let's begin with a cliche.

The Chinese word for danger is 危机 (wei ji), literal meaning "danger and opportunity".

The end of privacy is exactly this. There is obviously the danger of all your information being collected stored by unscrupulous, creepy people with evil intentions. 

But there is also the explosion of opportunities. Since we now expect everything to be tagged and recorded anyway, why don't we instead open up and send out information that will influence others?

Beyond the fear and reality of being exploited, there is the desire to make a mark on the world. To have people know you exist; to understand you;. We are being connected at a faster pace than ever before in the history of human existence, and with it, the influence of the individual has also become greater than ever.

Not even the best privacy in the world is going to prevent immorality - they will merely find other ways to do so. Privacy is but one of many issues that naturally arise from immorality.

To fix the issue of immorality, one must find the truth through sound reasoning and solve the root of the problem.

But that's an essay for another day. Back to the End of Privacy.

Example 1. We know that sooner or later, we are going to have tags on almost everything electronic. It's just who does it, how, and when.

Why don't we open-source the applications and leverage the community to solve problems with it?

It could solve a lot of problems that have plagued all humans for all time...

End theft
If the tags are well-hidden, stealing would become increasingly difficult. Just like the lock has prevented many many robberies, identification can be a great thing to mark ownership. And while all security devices can be broken with tools like lockpicking, the point of security has always been to make theft harder than it would be to acquire the property honestly.

End forgetfulness
Relieving the cognitive load of having to remember lots of details. And actually, it would still be easier to remember where your keys were - it's just that you now have a choice.

Promote generosity and trust
Losing something and then having strangers return it to you usually increases community trust, at least temporarily. I know I certainly did when I lost my phone at a restaurant and it was brought to the counter for safekeeping. Now, I could have remotely wiped it, but I still wouldn't get my phone back. Knowing that "being a good citizen" now easier than ever to do increases cooperation, mutual respect and generosity greatly.

Example 2. Web tracking. This is a touchy one, because there are many rules (eg. AUPs), socialeconomic norms and political restrictions here.
Ideally, nobody knows who's been where or unless it is voluntarily disclosed. The reality is it's increasingly rare and tedious for people to hide all their web-traces.

Here, the opportunity is for greater openness, discussion and more sharing. Restrictions lead to people leading double lives (remember Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest"?), which is really a shame, considering how it fosters dishonesty, miscommunication, COMEDY (don't forget comedy!), plus plenty of worry.

To conclude...

Where does Privacy really come from?

We all pick and choose our information. Even the most powerful computers in the world cannot process every single bit of data created at every single moment. It is from this that privacy naturally arises - because it is not economical, effective or useful to analyze or disclose each and all of it. Technological advancements allows more storage, analysis, disclosure, etc.