(no subject)

[gandhicrushkill]

According to USA Today, SUP is at the forefront of sociology. Our demands for privacy are not only outmoded and outdated, they are not socially beneficial.

I don't like this society. Can I please have interstellar travel now so I can go elsewhere?

Comments

[ravensson]

"We teach people they should mind their own business," he says, but "that's extremely bad advice. It's dangerous because you won't see the terrorist next door making a bomb; you won't see the kids being abused, or the husband beating up a wife. If there wasn't any eavesdropping, if people minded their own business and ignored what they saw and heard, how would you prevent and how would you solve crimes?"

*facepalm* George Orwell called. He said Big Brother is watching you. And *gasp* Big Brother is still Russian.

[ex_moonstruck314]

Ugh so retarded.

So it's my duty as a citizen to eavesdrop on people so crimes get solved? Good to know I'm supposed to be part of this crime-solving career that I never wanted.

[destinyislands]

It seems somebody failed to realize there's a difference between eavesdropping and actively engaging the people around you. One doesn't need to to eavesdrop to notice the bruises on a child.

And further more, not eavesdropping=/=minding ones own business either.

><' I can't believe stuff like this gets published. Is the world that paranoid? Or just that needing of an excuse to get at other people's private info? (or both?)

...I feel better in my decision about coming here and leaving LJ behind.

[highways]

And *gasp* Big Brother is still Russian.

:/ can we not

[gehayi]

I'm with you. It's creepy.

[winneganfake]

Seconded.

Now where the hell did I put those rocketship plans?

[gandhicrushkill]

"When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere." --Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love

[ex_moonstruck314]

"What had once been private behavior is now being shoved in their face."

UH NO. The only place I talk about personal things on the phone is out of earshot of other people.

[moem]

I'm glad to hear it.
It's called common sense. I wish everyone had it.

[dizzyellie]

You know, I'm actually all for looking out for your neighbors, getting to know them, reaching out. Too many people mind their own business when it comes to things like child or spousal abuse. Or the lonely elderly neighbor who is isolated and needs help with the basics. Or the harried single parent who could use a little help sometimes. With the internet and cell phones people are increasing tuning out of society. That's not a great thing in my book.

But there's a difference between staying connected with your community and easedropping. FFS. I'm supposed to watch my neighbor because she might be making a bomb? *slaps forehead*

Yes we should engage more our neighbors, but it should be out of neighborliness, compassion, and community, not from paranoia.

This article answers all I need to know about why LJ is heading in the direction it's headed in.

[brewsternorth]

All of what you said. The difference is *compassion* and *empathy* as you say.

[medrin]

Sorry, but if I'm on the phone and there are other people around that can hear what I'm saying - no matter if I know them or not - I'm always very careful to only use phrases such as "yes", "no", "that thing, you know", "I'm sorry, but can I call you back later".

It's just, very creepy if someone can figure out what I'm talking about with someone else.

[capybara_cafe]

I wish everyone would do this.

[darth_eldritch]

So we are becoming a society of voyeurs.

And people are turned on by this?

I'm not.

It's so ordinary.

Privacy is avante garde, cutting edge, the future. Those who think otherwise will be left behind because they're too busy snooping on the neighbors.

[loosechanj]

The positive social aspect would be that the smart people will learn not to post things that get them featured on lamebook etc, or at least not post them publicly. The people who don't will be mocked into extinction.

[issahime]

I don't like this society.
Can't say I'm that thrilled with the idea, either...

[imai_blossom]

When you find transport off this rock please let us know. I think many of us are already packed.

I'm seriously baffled by the assumption that because we 'can' eavesdrop that we 'want' to eavesdrop. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but I don't broadcast private things for the rest of the world nor do I wish to be witness to the sound waves of someone else expounding the virtues of whatever or prattling on about their latest conquest. It's called TMI for a reason.

[darth_eldritch]

Thank you!

[ekmisao]

But encouraging eavesdropping is what keeps socialist, communist, and militaristic governments alive, doesn't it? So they can arrest dissenters that people overhear and report? It just makes everyone MORE paranoid and cautious.

[jhumor]

Ummm... wow! Just... wow! And my family/co-workers, etc. wonder why I don't like "the public". *points to article* That there? THAT'S why!


Annnnnnnnd I'm back to: "Hermits United: we get together once every 10 years. Talk about caves. Good fun. For a hermit."

[destinyislands]

LOL.

Caves suddenly have lots of appeal to me.

[destinyislands]

So...it's not let's fix the privacy problem, let's pretend it's okay. :D

/facepalms

Anyone know when NASA's next trip to space is? I think I need to catch a ride.

[jhumor]

**Facepalms**

Right, shared this with a "friend" the reply:
---------------------------
Friend: Hmm. It might help lower inhibitions. Which isn't a bad thing, really.
No offense, your country needs to loosen up. So does mine. But not like Sweden loosened up. That's just crazy. 

Me: wait... you AGREE with the article?

Friend: I don't particularly think it's a big deal. These things come in, they go out. Inhibitions rise, inhibitions falls.

Me: Huh... well that explains a lot... I'm getting too old for this
------------------

No really, I'm thinking I'm in a different generation. Maybe even a different planet.

[ravensson]

I know I am. Someone didn't get the memo that I was supposed to have been born 20 years earlier. I walk around now like "Wait a minute, why are you texting me when we both have cellphones and you can just call? Isn't that why you made me GET a cellphone?"

tongue firmly in cheek

[tangent_woman]

Loss of privacy isn't a bug. It's a feature!

Like climate change, it's a Good Thing(TM) if only people look at the positives instead of being sane being all backwards, negative, nay saying killjoys.

Because nobody who has ever been oppressed or persecuted or stalked has any right to online communication and interaction.

Anyone who would prefer that their ex didn't know where they live (when they finally get out on parole) shouldn't expect to ever be able to put their address in a private online networking service and expect that the privacy undertakings will be complied with.

and who would like to discuss their upcoming camping trip online only with people they trust not to burgle their house while they are away, ... well they are jut being silly and paranoid!

[blackmare]

I don't think the oversharing thing is a good idea, really, but I do think things are starting to swing the other direction (look at the Diaspora project someone linked here for a great example). I feel that the DW migration is part of that movement, and that it will only grow. A lot of us have already had enough of Facebook Nation.

Also, I feel compelled to point out that while I have no love whatsoever for what SUP has decided to do to LJ (which is why I'm here and not there), SUP is not Russia any more than Facebook is America.

And it's our homegrown American Facebook that will tell everyone how to find everyone else, but won't tell the cops who your stalker is.

What I find truly egregious about the "TMI is A-OK" tone of that article? Is their utter omission of the way corporations use social media to track and control their employees, and base hiring and firing decisions upon what we say online. Perhaps they left that out because it just wasn't possible to put a happy spin on it.

*sigh*

I'll still think long and hard about that spaceship, particularly if it's rectangular, blue, and dimensionally transcendental.

[primsong]

Wait, wait - I'll go with you! What planet are we headed for again?

[highways]

I don't really think this article has much to do with, like, the privacy issues with LJ at all -- it's just commenting on how our natural human tendencies tie into sites like Facebook and Twitter. They aren't saying you have to share all your private information or that you have to take in other people's private information, or that either should happen against your will. They saying it's becoming increasingly common in our society, which is true. I don't really see how that relates to SUP violating its own TOS; it's not like it's saying that private companies making money off of personal information is beneficial to society.

Actually this part struck me as really interesting: "There is an idea in social psychology that you can talk about intimate things to strangers because they are not part of your network and are not considered to be a risk. If you're actually in public and clearly don't know people, it's almost seen as a private space."

[destinyislands]

"There is an idea in social psychology that you can talk about intimate things to strangers because they are not part of your network and are not considered to be a risk. If you're actually in public and clearly don't know people, it's almost seen as a private space."

I personally tend to feel more self-conscious about whatever I'm doing, even if I know no one around me will get what I'm doing/talking about. When I want privacy, I move myself away from the big crowd of unknown.

Though, IDK, maybe I'm not in the average when it comes to that?

I think the poster was commenting on how the article seems to suggest oversharing is a good thing/privacy isn't important anymore, and for a lot of people, the privacy issue was why they were leaving LJ. Well, among other reasons.

[angstytimelord]

Crap like this almost makes me GLAD that I live at the ass end of nowhere & don't get out much.

[denisia]

Sorry, I was trying to reply to the original post, I didn't mean to seem like I was arguing with you!

[denisia]

For a year and a half, I lived in a small town where everyone was in everyone else's business. Interestingly enough, it didn't result in a safer, more compassionate or more helpful community. It resulted in a place where everyone knew that everyone else was sniping about their activities behind their back, and that was about it.

I think right now we're dealing with a generation who has grown up being online, with social networking, and they're so accustomed to putting themselves out there that they don't see the downside of it. They don't think it's dangerous and they don't see the privacy implications because, hey, when they were 10 they had AOL and could do a little profile with their account and they've been on MySpace for years and now they're on Facebook and nothing's happened, and everyone in their class is there too, and everyone posts those photos of that time they stripped to their skivvies and danced on the bar. Their schools have class lists online and their sports teams have a Facebook page. It's become the new normal. So it leaves those who do see the larger picture looking like paranoid tin-foil hat loons.

[angstytimelord]

That's how it is here. Everybody knowing everyone else's business only results in more gossip, usually repeated with extra!sensational bits to "spice it up," which results in a lot of lies & rumors that only hurt people & cause anger & physical confrontations in the long run.

[queenofspades]

If there wasn't any eavesdropping, if people minded their own business and ignored what they saw and heard, how would you prevent and how would you solve crimes?

Wow. Just. Wow. Really?

Homeboy must have gotten his degree at Costco, 'cause, no.

[madelienegrey]

I am unhappy with this cultural shift. I've also lived in a small town where "everybody knew everything", and it didn't help solve crimes or prevent spousal abuse, it just created a greater gossip train.

[twisted_times]

I've also lived in a small town where "everybody knew everything", and it didn't help solve crimes or prevent spousal abuse, it just created a greater gossip train.

As someone else who grew up in a place with Small Town Syndrome^TM I have to agree with you!

[boonesfarmgirl]

Me, too. Maybe it is just me but all this is just too much information. TMI. I do not WANT to know these hings about people and I do not want them to know about me. YUCK, just yuck.