#Microblog Monday 269: Privacy Nihilism
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There was an article in the New York Times about a facial recognition database, called MegaFace, that got its images off of Flickr. The images were snapshots of 700,000 people that were offered at one point under a CC license.
The database “has been downloaded by dozens of companies to train a new generation of face-identification algorithms, used to track protesters, surveil terrorists, spot problem gamblers and spy on the public at large.”
If you ever uploaded images to Flickr, your pictures could be on it. Of course, who could predict this would happen? The article kicks off with the story of a mother who uploaded a few snapshots of her kids and found them on MegaFace over a decade later.
The article talks about “privacy nihilism.”
What happened to Chloe Papa could, depending on your perspective, argue for extreme vigilance or total resignation: Who could have possibly predicted that a snapshot of a toddler in 2005 would contribute, a decade and a half later, to the development of bleeding-edge surveillance technology?
Do you think privacy is impossible in this day and age? Is it worth putting out a solid effort to maintain it?
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12 comments
I think we should hold onto whatever sense of privacy we can have. Ultimately I don’t think real privacy can be attained this day and age.
It’s a shame that we just all operate under the belief nowadays that we’re always being watched, recorded and analyzed. We seem to have accepted it. And even if we try to avoid it, there are people around us who don’t honor our wishes anyway. I never post pictures of my kids but my sister or sisters-in-law will even though I tell them not to. And that was all way before I ever heard of any of these analytics . I just wanted to protect them from online predators. It’s still always worth doing our best and not giving up to keep what’s ours ours.
I’m pretty zealous about this. Never had FB, insta, flicker, etc accounts), I have all location services turned off on my phone, etc.
A lot of people are like “I have nothing to hide” so who cares about 4th amendment.
Well, you never know when suddenly you will be part of a disfavored/suspicious community. Our current govt seems headed towards fascism.
What Working mom of 2 said.
I rarely post selfies, and only on my private Fbk account. So even though my photo is available on the web, I’ve probably been lulled into a false sense of security.
“Privacy Nihilism” is a great term. Because even if you’re careful, with data breaches and hacks and your information/images being places you might not even be aware of, it’s really hard to be sure what is safe or private. I still think it’s good to be vigilant. But just participating in modern life (i.e. not being completely off the grid) makes you vulnerable.
If you’re on the internet, you have pretty much given up your privacy. Order something from Amazon? They’ve got your name and address and credit card number. Have an account anywhere? It’s probably been breached, and if not, the company has sold your information. Don’t use the internet? Don’t worry! Your doctors, pharmacists, banks, grocery stores, employer, etc. will collect your information and either not protect it or sell it. So, yeah, privacy is a myth.
I agree with “a.” There is no privacy anymore. I did a search for a family member online because I couldn’t find the phone number. I found the phone number along with every member of our family listed AND their ages and whereabouts, just by doing a simple Google search. It’s scary. Really.
That’s scary. I uploaded pictures to Flickr back in the day!
I think that even if we think we are doing all we can to keep our virtual privacy, we still are being seen in ways we don’t even realize.
A really good example is the one Chandra pointed out above…googling someone to get a phone number reveals SO MUCH other info about who you know, where you live. You can even access google maps and see the home, then look up housing info on Redfin. It’s kinda creepy.
Another thing I recently noticed was IG. I have it but don’t post, I follow a few choice accounts, mostly entertainment stuff vs actual people I know. It always tries to cross-reference my phone book which I always decline. But somehow it was pulling info anyway, telling me these certain accounts were contacts, and then I saw people who weren’t in my phone but could access my page, and I was mad because it fees like an invasion. We can try to create some version of privacy, but I think it’s really all just an illusion.
Maintaining privacy is a losing battle. It’s folly, I’m sure, that I still fight to protect it in small and impotent ways.
Privacy doesn’t exist. Go check out the website “true people search”. It literally gives out your full name, address, phone number, email and also provides links to that same info for your relatives and there are tons of other websites just like it.
Also, when I lived in Maryland, there is a mall in Bethesda that literally uses your phone to track which route you walk through the mall, what stores you go into, etc. I have heard most malls and large stores do this and the disclosure of them doing this is written tiny on the directory board.
Privacy doesn’t exist in 2019. It doesn’t make it right but that’s the reality.