Privacy, while not specifically guaranteed in many nation’s constitutions, has been regarded as a fundamental right in a democratic government. But technology is quickly taking that away.

I remember when it took a professional skip tracer days or even weeks to track a person down who can now be found online by an amateur in 15 minutes. I also remember when a professional webpage designer told me she learned how to access people’s marital status and mortgage records online. That frightened me. But those were the long-ago days, back in the late 1990s. People weren’t thinking about how much of their personal information could be gained online, and there was little security.

Now that online security has greatly advanced, so has the ease with which you can access anyone’s personal information.

It’s a cliche’ to say we’re living in the age where “Big Brother is watching you.” But it’s not just the government big brother who’s watching you, it’s big brother business, and little brother your next door neighbor, and even the guy you knew 10 years ago who now lives 3,000 miles away. He might be checking to see where you go online, or watching you through someone else’s hidden camera. Walk a block downtown, and you could be recorded dozens of times. Visit a website you wouldn’t want your boss or spouse or sother to know about, and they may well know.

Of course it works both ways. For a small fee, you can now sit in your living room and learn a great deal about that guy who lives 3,000 miles away, and your boss and your sother. Today, you can easily collect personal information that used to be difficult for even law enforcement to gather.

And that’s the reason privacy is disappearing. People have a drive for their privacy. But those same people love gossiping about, and snooping on, others. Their drive is to spy on their neighbors, and the drive of business is to make money by any (hopefully legal) means.

Like it or not, and I don’t, but technology has made privacy an endangered species.

Anyone familiar with database technology will understand that even small amounts of data can be viewed many ways and broke down into the smallest of components. Even the addition of one single piece of data to the original dataset will expand the dataset many times. Linking your personal profile to what you have posted on the social site would expand the dataset to a mind boggling size allowing for the possibility to extract a huge amount of information about you. Most of this information is already there but using the GUID or unique identifier to automate the process is not acceptable. I do not see this subject mentioned in the privacy policy of the sites so allowing this to happen could open the sites up to legal or FCC issues. They should stop now!

I had an eye-opening event over the weekend. I wrote a post to a blog, had to register with an e-mail address. The blog manager responded and added some information he knows about me. I had some of it on my profile page, but other information was elsewhere.

Since then I set all my privacies to within my contacts.

Also note Web 4.0 is going to really be nosy. Supposed to be helpful in directing searches and things in your interest, but it is all information that will be able to be used against you.

I had a boss fifteen years ago who avoided as much as possible in giving his social security number. This was when internet browsers were in their infancy. It was Mosaic back then.

Young people think they have nothing to lose by doing social network. It’s wrong. You basically showed yourself naked when you have your info on those social network sites.

I think privacy issues could wake up enough people who will result in a massive boycott of social networking. It’s nice to be in the underground. If I could afford it, I’d even move to San Francisco or Manhattan and throw away my driver’s license.

I’ve already stopping using sites like facebook as soon as I saw how much info they were willing to give to me as an advertiser and developer.

It’s just insane.

I hate to say it but we need to make some laws and do something about this because this crap ain’t right…

Freaking pervs is what these people are.

thank you for blogging that. I loved following it. Will be back soon.