So, I am clicking through the PC World web site and I spot an article titled:
"Google CEO: Change Your Name to Escape Our Watchful Eye"
As a network thinker, I stopped dead in my tracks -- that is a very stupid statement by a very smart man. I wondered, "Why is he saying this?" Surely, he knows his company contains many scientists that can find anyone in the net, no matter what they change their name to. Is he just blowing smoke in the interviewer's eyes?
Schmidt goes on to make some very interesting statements in the interview...
"'I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time"
I totally agree with that, and have been sharing a similar warning for a while.
I read on and saw that Schmidt was talking about changing one's name at one particular point in time -- the transition between youth/college and adulthood/career. Now his statement makes more sense, but it is still very hard to do.
So, all of you network thinkers out there reading this... why is Eric Schmidt most likely wrong? Even if changing your name was as easy as changing your address, why could you not hide from your past on Google, or from any of the dozens of internet data mining firms/governments out there?
Fill up the comments below with your theories and ideas!
Hint: Social network analysts know the answer revolves around structural equivalence...
danah boyd has already written a great post on this http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2010/08/16/name-changes-reputation.html
ReplyDeleteChanging your name is one thing but you would have to break all the network connections on Facebook etc as well.
This post makes clear how much our networks can give away about us:
http://businessesgrow.com/2010/08/17/snooping-on-facebook-not-just-for-stalkers-any-more/
My own interest relates specifically to privacy of health information:
http://wishfulthinkinginmedicaleducation.blogspot.com/2010/08/paying-for-privacy-patient.html
I'm really looking forward to reading the thoughts of others on this!
Great post by danah! But, she makes other points...
ReplyDeleteWhy is it basically impossible to do what Eric Schmidt suggests -- not change your name, but "disappear from your past" with a new name?
Somehow this comment got lost... I will re-post here:
ReplyDeleteJillian has left a new comment on your post "Can you hide in the networked world?"
In fact I have done just that. It probably helps when one's name is eclipsed by that of a famous person.
Granted, all references have not been removed. However, my identity was successfully split between past and present identities.
The only thing that remains tied to my past are friends and other people's memories. Patterns of association have changed, so my network is essentially different in nature. There is still a bit of overlap, but it hasn't been a problem.
As a side benefit, I'm no longer invisible on the web. I stand out and can be found.
Let's start with the assumption that having an online self is useful, and will become more useful with time (i.e., employers and others will want you to have an online presence, not just an empty gulf.)
ReplyDeleteLet's say you turn 18. Do you start from scratch? Do you lose your entire online presence in order to purge juvenile or potentially embarrassing elements of that presence? That strikes me as an unappealing baby-with-the-bathwater issue.
The situation Schmidt discusses is one that I think will only face us for a short time longer. As more and more of our own network(s) have stupid behaviour to “hide”, we will become more forgiving of them, and there is more likely to be a situation of “mutually-assured embarrassment” … it WILL be troublesome for us in the transition, but I think we'll become inured to the existence of less-than-flattering stuff.
ReplyDeleteMore importantly, those of us that have or are growing up with Facebook et al are learning (occasionally at some personal expense) about the Net's memory … these lessons will persist in the next generations, and we'll see some modification of behaviour by individuals, PLUS some (possibly-legislated) improvements in control over our own data (think VRM/personal data stores/Connect.Me etc) that will ameliorate the issues.