[Infowarrior] - Privacy threatened by online life

[Richard Forno]

Privacy threatened by online life
By Zoe Kleinman
Technology Reporter, BBC News
People who post intimate details about their lives on the internet  
undermine everybody else's right to privacy, claims an academic.

Dr Kieron O'Hara has called for people to be more aware of the impact  
on society of what they publish online.

"If you look at privacy in law, one important concept is a reasonable  
expectation of privacy," he said.

"As more private lives are exported online, reasonable expectations  
are diminishing."

The rise of social networking has blurred the boundaries of what can  
be considered private, he believes - making it less of a defence by law.

We live in an era that he terms "intimacy 2.0" - where people  
routinely share extremely personal information online.

"When our reasonable expectations diminish, as they have, by necessity  
our legal protection diminishes."

Dr O'Hara, a senior research fellow in Electronic and Computer Science  
at the University of Southampton, gave the example of an embarrassing  
photo taken at a party.

A decade ago, he said, there would have been an assumption that it  
might be circulated among friends.

But now the assumption is that it may well end up on the internet and  
be viewed by strangers.

Raging debate

Privacy has long been a thorny issue but there were very few court  
cases until that of former motorsport boss Max Mosley in 2008.

Mr Mosley sued the News of the World over the publication in the  
newspaper of explicit photos of him secretly taken during an orgy.

He argued that the publication of the photos was an unwarranted breach  
of his privacy - and won.

Mr Mosley had taken steps to keep his private life private but Dr  
O'Hara's concern is that other people's disregard for privacy online  
will spill over into other walks of life.

As debates continue to rage over whether the new airport body scanners  
and CCTV are an infringement of privacy or useful protection, some  
argue that it already has.

"Recent security decisions have become a privacy discussion - but if  
security suffers, the community suffers," Dr O'Hara said.

He was due to deliver his research paper at the annual Media  
Communication and Cultural Studies Association (Meccsa) conference  
held at the London School of Economics from 6-8 January.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/8446649.stm

Published: 2010/01/08 11:08:08 GMT

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