Privacy 2.0: Does It Even Exist?

With the explosive growth of user-generated content in Web 2.0, one of the results is that more and more personal information can be found online. As Kathy Sierra and others have discovered, the line between online presence and personal life is getting thinner all the time.

MySpace has tried to walk the line between user privacy concerns and compliance with law enforcement agencies this year, and it can only be assumed that if other social networking sites haven't already been contacted in a much less visible manner, they will be shortly. MySpace held out until they received subpoenas, but in June alone, Texas law enforcement agencies arrested seven previously convicted child molesters for setting up profiles on MySpace, violating the terms of their parole by having contact with minors. In order to get the convictions, however, they had to obtain the user data from MySpace. You have to wonder how much other data may have been accessible as part of that investigation.

MySpace had concerns about how releasing that data to Texas and other state attorneys general relating to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), which covers how data can be collected, and what such data can be used for, especially when it concerns the content of conversations that may take place via private messaging on a site and/or email communications.

MySpace isn't the only site that's had to deal with issues of privacy and misuse of information; Google seems to be taking hits on all sides over many of its services and site policies. Google Earth has long been a bone of contention for privacy advocates, and will most likely get some governmental scrutiny of their own. A complaint filed in U.S. Federal Court in June lists information gathered using the service was used by the alleged JFK terror plot after video surveillance shot by the conspiracy suspects was deemed "not sufficiently detailed for operational purposes."

While the U.S. Court of Appeals determined that search terms are protected content under the ECPA back in May, these new allegations are bound to have some impact on searches made with Google Earth.

Added to the potential for Google Earth controversies, you have the ongoing concerns over Google Street View. While it's true that laws regarding street photography generally mean that you have no expectation of privacy when you are out in public, I don't think anyone expects that their visit to the local adult book store will result in millions of people getting to see it.

And let's not forget the countless Web 2.0 services that we sign up for that tell our whereabouts to any interested party. Last month, Plazes CEO Felix Petersen backed out of one conference, giving his reason as a sick daughter, only to be found at another conference by folks finding his whereabouts using his own product. Web 2.0 technology is moving so fast that we haven't had time to sync our old-school excuses.

The more information that we put online, the less we can rely on having any sort of anonymity, much less privacy. The real test is going to be figuring out how to walk the very fine line between using all this technology and maintaining any privacy at all.

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