Anonymity - Can we lose any more of it?

A Vancouver firefighter, caught on YouTube in an apparent drunk driving situation, is outed to the community. A good thing, no? Perhaps, but we have to think about the longer term implications of a steady erosion of our privacy and anonymity.

Rural

Being anonymous sounds like fun, but also a little irresponsible, right? What if I told you it was a fundamental feature of a democratic society? Would you believe me?

If you think about it a bit, however, having some privacy and anonymity is essential to things like free speech and freedom of assembly and especially freedom to vote your conscience. The ability to make your vote or speak your mind or meet with people to air your views or hear theirs and not feel that you may be at risk because of it - these are the foundations of our democratic society.

And yet, we seem to be eroding anonymity in our society bit by bit. Literally. Digital technologies, and most recently and most notoriously the ubiquitous cell phone camera, are making it easier and easier to reveal who is behind certain actions in our midst.

Some of these revelations aren't particularly harmful and may, in fact, be for the collective good. We probably could all do with a dose of the "tut tut" and "tsk tsk" that our ancestors had to put up with in the village after a night on the town. It might make us think twice about some antisocial behaviour. A recent incident, in which a local firefighter crashed his car and was forcibly arrested downtown (YouTube) is an example of social mores coming to the fore in an everyday situation.

But what about when the video is you at a protest march? What if the video sticks around on the 'net past the time when you are interested in having yourself associated with that cause? Or, worse perhaps, you avoid a march that you wish you would have been part of, because you don't want the publicity. When people are harmed for their views - or avoid expressing those views for fear of reprisal - we lose an essential element of our democracy.

It is an old argument but it bears repeating - the technology around us appears to evolve far more quickly than we and our laws and values do. In the case of village life (or communal life), there is an element of privacy that has to be created by the participants in that life, if for no other reason than to ensure the continuing viability of a small community. How, for example, could we have large families living in a single room unless people gave each other a little space. Similarly, small towns can tear themselves to pieces if they don't exercise a little restraint with the knowledge that they inevitably have with each other.

In the last few decades we in Canada have moved from a rural nation to an urban one. Along the way we have gradually come to see urban life as normal and have somehow lost touch with rural and village life. There are many things to mourn about that passing - recently highlighted by the census figures for 2006 - but one of the ones that I am concerned about is the extent to which we seem to have lost the ability to give each other some space. Rural people know that you don't always have a good way of not knowing who someone is when you see them in a compromising situation or hearing about them. But you sure as heck have the ability to ignore or forget that you ever heard about it.

Privacy isn't just taken, it is created. And sometimes the best thing we can do for each other is to show a little restraint. Obviously we can't use restraint to take back the privacy that is seized from us by government and corporate surveillance. But we don't have to join the party. Or at least not all the time. Show a little respect. If that video doesn't have to go up on the net, then don't.