After visiting 30 schools and talking to hundreds, if not thousands, of college students in the past two years, my conclusion is this:
Students do not care about privacy in any fundamental sense.
They just don’t.
They figure the government just shouldn’t or wouldn’t mess with them. Corporations aren’t even on the radar.
The only reason college students care about “privacy” settings is to prevent their school from seeing their drinking pictures.
Later, they want to prevent their potential employers from seeing it.
This is only because they want to avoid getting in trouble. If they knew that the school would be “cool with it” – then they would throw their arms open wide.
I’ve studied enough history to be worried about the patriot act, Cointelpro, ATT record keeping/transfer, NYC infiltrating, total information awareness, location tracking, etc., etc. But my digital footprints are everywhere. If I were at all revolutionary in any true second amendment, right to bear arms to balance the power of the government way, I wouldn’t last two seconds. I’m not revolutionary. At the moment anyway. At the moment, I’m interested in making education more engaging.
While I’m not currently trying to change anything controversial, I think somebody should be and I think they should have the reasonable latitude to challenge.
Unlimited information brings with it unlimited power. This is sure to corrupt.
The laissez-faire about privacy worries me. In a big way. In an “I don’t have any idea what to do about it” way.
Most students have a vague notion that wiretapping is bad, but they figure that the government is trying to protect them and they don’t have anything to hide anyway. That’s as far as it goes.
Fred Stutzman is worried about Google on campuses. He’s worried about privacy. Fred’s a smart guy. I think Fred and others who are interested in spreading the message that privacy matters have very little chance of gaining traction with college students.
This college generation is gone. In the mainstream, I have heard no discernible thread of resistance to total transparency, big brother (be it corporate or government) enabling technologies on the basis of “privacy”.
Out of the mainstream? All of my anarchists, the government fearing, commune living, “this phone is tapped” sticker campaigning, GOP/WTO protesting, friends in Denver use Myspace. If they were at all actually dangerous to the status quo they could be rounded up in an afternoon.
1984 is required reading in most schools. The students I talk to dismiss it with a wave.
I feel old. There was a time where I would try to hold Asia at Risk and try to take on everything I cared about. Maybe I have less energy now, or maybe I know my limits. This one is not my fight. Not at the moment.
If it were, boy, I really wouldn’t know where to start. How could a history lesson be scarier than the reality of today? Where terrorism is everywhere and anything can be justified under the war on terrorism.
