Posted 8:38 AM

Kim and the naughty girl....

In regard to yesterday's post ("No masks in the grocery store"), Kim asks to hold off that discussion while he continues a non-emotional, unimpassioned "technical exploration" of privacy, anonymity and linking.

The problem with that, to me, is that the anonymity, non-linking aspects gain ascendancy in the discussion, to the derogation of issues such as personalization and even the emerging area of reputation.

There are definite areas (mostly around political issues) where anonymity is important. But the whole privacy thing has always struck me as code for "I want porn but don't want anyone to know how much I get," a holdover from our teenage days and hiding the Playboys when mom cleaned our room - e.g. see the "naughtyGirl" scenario. Now that's too facile an argument, I know, but it does encompass a large number of the use cases for on-line privacy. Don't get me wrong, privacy is important. Each on-line persona should be able to develop and maintain it's own personality without there necessarily being any overlap. It's a nice thing to have. But by making it a requirement, we can potentially shoot down other "nic things to have" before we even have the chance to try them out.