In the previous post I discussed about on of the big issues in Internet: having too many passwords to remember. Today I would like to talk about another big issue: privacy and anonymity.
Web 2.0 change the world and one of the changes is that anybody can be on the web. Just some years ago I was terribly happy every time I found my name on Google. Now, it makes me shiver.
You know the story: you make something "funny" on the web when you are young. Then, your pictures, words, videos spread on the blogosphere. And years later when you go to a job interview they ask you about all that "fun". Read, for example, what happened to Miss New Jersey.
Nowadays Google is probably the biggest spy on Earth: you just need to type somebody's name on Google to know more about him than his wife. Some new Google services like Street View, are taking espionage to a new dimension.
Currently on the web there are two extreme trends between protecting your privacy or exhibiting your privacy:
1) Protecting your privacy
Today I read on Enrique Dans' blog (Spanish) that the search engine Ask.com has decided (press release) o go for the privacy rights of the users: Ask.com will launch AskEraser, a new feature which enable the user to decide which information about them should be accessible through the search engine and which one no.
If this new service is welcome, other players in the sector, including Google, may have to change their privacy policy.
More information on Wired.
2) Exhibiting your private data
Some start-ups are going an step forward on something that rather then espionage we can describe as exhibitionism: sharing or even publishing on the Internet, your web history in real time. Some examples are: cluztr, chatsum or me.dium.com
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Read an interesting article by Martin Varsavsky about identity and anonymity in Web 2.0 - Only Spanish. Sorry :-)
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