"The Web 2.0 movement is opposed to the privacy movement" -- Part XI of Privacy-Publicacy Series

Kudos to Saul Hansell for his post at the NY Times Bits Blog which ably spotlights the growing clash between those who publicly advocate for more privacy on the web and those who behind-the-scenes are opposed to more privacy on the web. 

• From Hansell's post: "...There is a split, he told the conference, between the typical view of privacy among technology experts and the emerging view of people brought up in the social networking, Web 2.0 world.
• “The Web 2.0 movement is opposed to the privacy movement,” he said. Traditionally, privacy advocates have pushed for a policy of “data minimization,” he argued. ....
• The new ideology revolves around what Mr. Swire called “data empowerment.”

This privacy-publicacy tension that I have been writing about for months -- is obviously very real indeed. 

I coined the term "publicacy" a year ago because the english language did not have an antonym to the word "privacy," and it was clear to me that one would be needed because there was a growing movement that did not believe in online privacy -- even though the vast majority of Internet users expect online privacy -- per Consumer Report's Survey.  

This growing privacy-publicacy tension is very relevant to Hill efforts to pass privacy legislation.

• The tension is more evidence of the technology-driven "balkanization" of privacy laws/regulations/expectations and the fact that there is no consumer-driven, technology-neutral framework to protect consumers' privacy.
  • It is telling that the faction that is "opposed to the privacy movement," is a technology interest -- "the Web 2.0 movement" which promotes social networking technologies.

In closing, I find it ironic that those who oppose privacy on the web, are not willing to be public about their opposition to online privacy.

• I guess they are invoking their right to privacy to oppose the privacy of others... 

Privacy-Publicacy Faultline Series here:

• Part I: The Growing Privacy-Publicacy Fault-line -- The Tension Underneath World Data Privacy Day 
• Part II: Implications of User Location Tracking
• Part III: Extreme Publicacy -- Does Privacy Stand a Chance?
• Part VI: Why FTC’s Behavioral-Ad Principles Are a Big Deal
• Part V: Privacy prevailed in Facebook's privacy-publicacy earthquake
• Part VI: Do People Own Their Private Information Online?  
• Part VII: Where is the line between privacy and publicacy? 
• Part VIII: "Privacy is Over"
• Part IX: "Interventional Targeting? "Get into people's heads" 
• Part X: "Latest publicacy arguments against privacy"