My parking garage

10/15/10

Upon having watched "The Social Network":

It's prompting quite a bit of discussion on the issue of privacy, and it reminds me of conversations I've had with people concerning this journal. ”You mean you write about your most personal thoughts and feelings? On the internet? WhereANYBODY could find and read it?”

Yeah, I say, I do. Because who, exactly, is going to find this particular journal? The community of Livejournal (which is already sympathetic to the culture of journaling), and the random passer-by stumbling onto a cached Google link. That's who is going to find this. Are these people going to ruin my life, invade my privacy, bother my little world with their presence? No. 

The internet is a big, big place and the chances of my tiny little blog finding any sort notoriety on a mass level is minuscule. And even the individual people that could, possibly, find this blog and be problematic in my life aren't really a concern, because the size of the internet makes it difficult to find this journal anyways. Do I particularly care if random strangers see this? No. Why should I? The random stranger isn't going to care about what I'm writing here because they are a random stranger. They have no connection to me and I no connection to them.

Say what you want about the human condition, but the core component of human interaction on any personal level requires some kind of investment into what they are saying. The masses of internet users have no such investment in me, and I wouldn't be so arrogant to think they would.

It's a bit like the old “how to hide a stolen car” argument. Does one put a stolen car in a backyard or squirrel it away in some remote place where, thanks to being the only car around in miles, it's going to stick out like a sore thumb? No. You put the damn car in a parking garage where there are hundreds and hundreds of other cars. You put the car in a place where one car won't make a difference, won't stand out, and won't attract any attention.

This journal is my car.

The internet is my parking garage.