On The Record
17Dec2002 Filed under: LinkagePrivacy through identity control
We’re all celebrities now, in a sense. Everything that we say or do is on the record. And everything that’s on the record is recorded for posterity, and indexed far better than any file photo or PR bio ever was.
Interesting discussion by Anil about privacy, the internet, and being “on the record.”
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5 Responses to “On The Record”
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Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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Erik
December 17th, 2002 at 2:56 pm
We’re all celebrities? How’s that? I mean I understand the premise but part of celebrity means recognition and fans and the like.
I’ve toned down my email rants because of the permanency of them. But then, by that point the damage has already been done dozens of times over.
I wonder about IM logs?
Ariel
December 17th, 2002 at 2:59 pm
I think Anil’s point about celebrities is that where as no-one used to keep track of what Joe Shmoes like us used to say, now they can. In years prior, only celebrities’ and politicians comments and words had staying power. Now any of us who use the Internet are immotalizing our words. Not that your average person on the street cares about what I think, but anyone who wanted to care could.
Erik
December 17th, 2002 at 3:11 pm
Yep, I get his point and yours but still have a disconnect or an agree to disagree on the “care” factor. I know blogging’s important to me and to you but basic reality says that not a whole lot of other people do care to care.
If I were feeling especially argumentative I would say that the internet has made it much, much easier to re read a person’s thoughts but its always been possible to recreate an event by the legacy of its evidence. And no, I’m not doing a good job explaining myself today.
How about this? The internet’s enabled us to have the capacity for celebrity if not the actual reality of it? So that, when you are famous, people will have no problem back tracking and reading your thoughts from this time.
Fair enough?
Ariel
December 17th, 2002 at 3:27 pm
I suppose I don’t ever worry that I’m going to become so famous that the average person on the street is going to want to know what I was doing in December 2002, but I know from experience that old friends, former lovers, co-workers, bosses, and enemies have gone a searching for me online…and found plenty to read.
Anil
December 17th, 2002 at 5:25 pm
For this definition of celebrity, I did mean in the sense that our words are recorded. Having a presence in the record used to be a privilege reserved for royalty.