The term eavesdropping came about when people stood under the eaves of a house and listened to household members talk. The definition of eavesdropper is “a secret listener to private conversations”.
What then do we call a software program that scours the internet looking for key words? And when it finds those words, it bookmarks the site for someone to review those words in the context of the conversation. The reviewer then decides if he/she should send the link to the client for their review.
What do you say if we call it Conversation miner?
“Converseon’s proprietary Conversation Miner™ scours public, online discussion areas – including blogs, newsgroups, social media, and more – to capture, understand and report the issues, opinions and ideas that consumers share between and among themselves.”
When you and I sit in a restaurant or bar and converse, you and I can tell if other people are listening. Then we can speak more quietly, even whisper, or we can continue our conversation at whatever loud decibel we choose. You and I have control over whether we wish to be overheard or not. Control being the operative word.
There is an expectation of privacy control that we believe is embedded in the Constitution when it says we have the right to be secure in our homes. However, I think that its the 9th Amendment that covers this:
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
I say that we have the right to be private in our affairs unless we choose not to be or unless we are the object of a criminal investigation. I think that we should not have our conversations scooped up like a school of minnows and sold as bait to a fisherman by some company making a buck off of us. Privacy Control. When a person comes into view, we can adjust our conversation, however, when a man signals to another to come listen in on a private conversation, that is eavesdropping.
Our rights as people have not kept pace with technology. We should create an amendment that permits anonymity in public spaces, a decree, perhaps, that advanced technologies cannot be employed to discover who we are when our choice is to remain anonymous. And that our true identity and our conversations cannot be bought nor sold without our consent.
Well, perhaps I am too concerned over this; however, if we are not public figures, we have an expectation of privacy. If we are not celebrities, we do not expect to see ourselves on YouTube, I-News, or someone’s blog.
What do you think? Do you have the expectation that you should be able to go about your business without being tracked, surveilled, eavesdropped upon, and observed by unknown companies and government entities?
3 responses so far ↓
Cari // February 28, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I’m not sure we should expect Privacy in chat rooms on the internet. We should expect Privacy in our emails and other point-to-point communications–totally agreed there. But open forums and online chat rooms are like having a conversation in Times Square. Anyone can listen in. That’s the whole point.
And, not to be flippant, but perceived anonymity hasn’t done anything for the content posted on these forums. Somehow, people think that it’s okay to belittle others, swear a lot, and generally spread disrespect and disharmony on a site (not THIS site, actually), simply because there are no repercussions. The social contract breaks down. Not that this is a good reason to monitor all the people all the time. I’m just saying that anonymity ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. I have to wonder, though–with all this anger & disrespect flying around, are we our TRUE SELVES on the internet?
ReasonableCitizen // February 28, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Yes, I see your point about expecting Privacy in open forums. I think the part that wrankles me is the use of robotic programs to identify a thing for further examination. Does it matter or, to put it another way, does Big Brother have to be a person in order to be oppressive?
If totalitarian states once existed with neighborhood spy programs, paid informants, and surreptitious wiretaps, should I feel less oppressed if robots are used to monitor my actions and report them to the authorities?
This may be worth a whole post. Thanks for bringing this up.
ReasonableCitizen // February 28, 2008 at 8:17 pm
By the way, we are who we really are when we are alone. Once you know this, if you don’t like it, you can change it and change who you really are to everyone else. However, more than likely you will just be more comfortable within your own skin.