Wired writer Steven Levy on his guilt/remorse response re: his involvement with a variety of social networking sites.Â
We hear a lot about privacy violations by Big Brother and Little Brother. But what if the fault lies not in our siblings but in ourselves? For a reality check, I called Marc Rotenberg, head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and an utter hawk when it comes to protecting personal data. He told me to relax. “One aspect of privacy is the ability to project yourself as you choose,” he says. Services like Facebook and Twitter are strictly opt-in, so as long as the information isnt divvied out to marketers, Rotenberg is OK with it: “That is freedom.”
I share some of Levy’s ambivalence here. In short, it’s my right to publicize what I want to about myself, but those I love should have the choice to “opt-in” before I blast their personal details to the universe, which is why I almost never post personal info or photos of my family on my blog, Twitter, Facebook, et. al.
Then again, I think there are maybe 5 people following me on Twitter… so how much does it really matter?
via Wired, Steven Levy on the Burden of Twitter .