Comments on: Pry, To

By: Bating the mousetrap with chunky peanut butter at FactoryCity

Bating the mousetrap with chunky peanut butter at FactoryCity — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 02:54:36 +0000

[...] only now beginning to realize the degree to which we are all exposed and what the reality of our transparent society looks like. And the truth is, we are only just beginning to wake up to the idea that we should and can have [...]

By: Flooding the network at FactoryCity

Flooding the network at FactoryCity — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:39:15 +0000

[...] Kareem Mayan sent me a link to a couple art projects about privacy in the era of ubiquitous knowledge (even if you don’t know you’re being watched, you are — so get over it). [...]

By: Privacy? What privacy? at FactoryCity

Privacy? What privacy? at FactoryCity — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 02:44:30 +0000

[...] And that’s when I went off on my anti-privacy rant. About how privacy is like sand between your fingers and that the more you try to hold on to it, the less you really can maintain control over. And subsequently, over time, more and more spills out into the hands of others, often those who you least expect or want to have information about you. [...]

By: Untitled #2, Incomplete at FactoryCity

Untitled #2, Incomplete at FactoryCity — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:56:35 +0000

[...] For obvious reasons. Look, I mean, I decided that privacy is bunk a long time ago so it’s not even that that I’m terribly worried about (your privacy is little more than sand between your fingers). [...]

By: FactoryJoe

FactoryJoe — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 04:36:31 +0000

Yep Josh, that’s pretty much the way I see it. I mean, I have a great incentive not to lie, like, evar: I interact with so many people in so many different mediums that to try to keep a lie going (unless I’m honestly deluding myself in which case it’s accidental!) is impossible! It’s better that I just do the right thing™ and be honest… and consistent!

Same thing goes for my behavior in general. I’ve been to rallies and marches as a volunteer observer. I saw the shit that went down. I know what kind of surveillance goes on. The more you try to hide yourself away, the easier it is to spot. So hell, flaunt it, be you, don’t let them stop you, and take refuge in the notion that, if they want to get you, one way or the other they will; the only question is whether enough people will know who you are well enough to come looking when you disappear!

By: Outlandish Josh

Outlandish Josh — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 04:12:55 +0000

1) Off Topic, but top o’the list: I thought at first that your site didn’t allow comments, which would be very un-Messina. Then I realized that the link for commenting was just very obscure, which is only slightly less un-Messina. Think about it…

2) While the literary reference theme is along, I’ll suggest a Brautigan saying that might be adaptable and which I find a good crutch at many times: “You can have security or you can have sanity. Pick one.”

3) In addition to the concept of flooding, there’s a great deal to be gained from just opensourcing and owning your behavior. It’s kind of priggishly moral to say, but don’t do things you don’t want people to find out about.

Of course, there are some real ways in which we are going to need to keep the State off our backs, but I’m relatively confidant that people will come around on that. And if not, I’ll end up in some secret jail, so I don’t have much to worry about either way.

By: Vera Horiuchi

Vera Horiuchi — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 18:46:24 +0000

Chris, you must immediately read The Transparent Society by David Brin. In fact, everyone who believes in the myth of individual privacy must immediately read it, because it’s getting late; maybe too late. Unless things change soon, there will be privacy, but only for big and potentially evil things like governments and corporations. We’ve already gone pretty far down that road. Check out Brin’s book; it’s all about what you’re saying here, but in more detail.

By: anonymous gnome

anonymous gnome — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 16:35:58 +0000

First of all, you underestimate the complexity of people, I would counter, if you really believe, as you write, that privacy is a dream.

Second, take a breather and realize what a revolutionary change you are advocating. This notion that flooding the networks will be somehow helpful and not harmful is entirely new, untested, unproven and is therefore, risky.

You are a frontiersman, Factoryjoe, to live like this, it is new territory and not for the faint of heart, a word of caution and greater responsibility behind your uninhibited evangelism is needed. With so much of your own information online, you will no doubt be one of the first victims should this flood of information yield an accompanying criminal revolution. But then, something tells me you would happily be the modern equivalent of the first man to die in spaceflight.

The reality is that the flood of information that is out there could potentially be used by its owners as you suggest. But, you do not address the ingenuity of the criminal mind, you do not seem to pause to consider the possible bad, so consumed are you by the possible good.
So sure are you that the good will outweigh the bad. That is your underlying assumption and it is not acknowledged as such in your post.