This is a rough draft of an essay I’d like to fully develop sometime in the future.
Ask any teenager if they believe privacy is a concern, and most will tell you it isn’t. Why? Do we not know the evils people can do with personal information? I don’t think that is the problem here.
Most teenagers have a general concept of how others can use their personal information, such as viewing habits, demographics, and other facets of themselves. They just don’t care.
“Oh no, big evil companies are going to take our personal information and use it to create ads more targeted at us.” Actually, I’m really sick and tired of getting adverts for bald heads, penile erectile dysfunctions, and lower mortgages. I wouln’t mind getting more targeted adverts.
There is a fear of discrimination. Perhaps our generation just dosen’t actually care about all that stupid crap. Everyone is on the same level as everyone else, regardless of any facet of their personal identity of habits. We just don’t care about that, either.
There’s nothing wrong with a world without privacy, as long as the generation without it doesn’t need it to protect themselves against ancient problems such as discrimination and paranoia. In fact, by disclosing all information, we show people for who they really are, such that we can be more assured in our relationships with them.
Finally, I never could understand how one could trully advocate freedom of speech while at the same time advocating personal privacy. Other than a right to not be forced to say something they wouldn’t otherwise say (such as revealing passwords and private keys), I see little reason why privacy would be needed by our generation.
Information is just an extension to the tangible reality that we already live in.
