It used to be that the person to watch out for was the busy body neighbor or the gossip at your local church. Now it seems that it’s not only okay but fashionable to mettle in everyone’s business now that everyone’s business and personal life seem to be online. But the real question is; how did we get here?
Many years ago at a family function I was talking to one of my great uncles who also happened to be one of the smartest people I have ever known in business as well as a great person with relationships. The topic of the day was the rights of ordinary citizens. My uncle had studied the US Constitution and consulted with a foreign government after WWII to help them write their Constitution based on ours. With this experience he made this statement, “People who are free to vote, vote the very freedoms they cherish away little by little over generations”. I have come to believe him over time. We have given up our privacy in the same way as technologies arise that ask us to, little by little, acquiesce to their policies in order to connect with others. The final question we will eventually have to ask is; when do we as people say no to the invasion of our basic privacy? I hope it is before we discover that the price we pay is much too high.
