(iverson's) currentbuzz: Suddenly, the Paranoids Don't Seem So Paranoid Anymore

Often convenience has pushed me to give out personal information. Or a sense futility that there is any hope of keeping information private. But Google's Street View brings a new factor into the discussion. Especially for those of us whose home is situated near the street.

Legally, none of us should have an expectation of privacy when we are in public spaces. In Times Square, I feel out there publically, but also have had a sense of anonymity in the huge crowd. If my address, or the address of a bar or address of a medical facilty or counseling place is googled, and I am in a Street View city, I could find my picture out there. And when we are on the web, we know it only takes nano seconds for anonymity to give way to a listing of all of our information -- recall poor "Dog Poop Girl" in Korea if you doubt me. Wired's Luddite takes Google's "do no evil" to task over this latest "tech lets us do it, so why not feature".

But now we've allowed that birthright to be compromised, in a hundred little ways, and in a few conspicuously big ones, by an increasingly meddlesome government -- not to mention opportunistic, predatory marketers -- armed with the technology that gives them an easy entrée into our most secret places. Why is that, do you suppose? Have we surrendered to Big Brother because "you can't fight city hall," or have we been lied to, cajoled and softened up for so long by so much stupid television and the endless drumbeat of consumerism that we no longer care?

Source: wired.com