Hyper-public spaces
The digital revolution is storming the barricades of privacy. In today’s interconnected world, we are tracked, surveyed, watched, and followed at every turn. Our movements both inside and outside cyberspace are constantly monitored, often with — but also without — our consent. Marketers pounce on our web habits. Cameras on street posts or affixed to vans roaming city streets capture daily life with increasing frequency. The Swiss courts are debating a case involving web giant Google’s popular Street View service that offers panoramas of roadways around the globe. But the Swiss aren’t satisfied with the company’s efforts to blur people’s faces and license plates. Their privacy is being compromised, the Swiss complain, despite Google’s claim that their blurring technology is 98 to 99 percent effective. The Swiss want 100 percent anonymity. Yet for the many millions who are part of the social media explosion, virtual connectedness and the sharing of detailed, personal information via...