When it comes to the death of privacy in the digital era, most of the focus turns to the myriad ways in which the surveillance state of social media’s ad-driven empire mines and profiles us. Yet these digital dossiers represent just a portion of the privacy puzzle that has forever changed in a world defined by smartphones and live-streaming. Perhaps the most transformative shift of all has been the loss of privacy in the offline world, as historical norms around privacy and respect have been replaced with a paparazzi-like expectation of privilege to film anyone anywhere for any reason and broadcast it to the world.
Once upon a time, the news media respected the privacy of ordinary people and deferred to the privacy and dignity of public figures. Perhaps most famously, President Roosevelt’s limited mobility was rarely covered by the press due to his wish not to highlight his illness. Rather than saturate their photo archives and articles with endless coverage of his mobility issues, the press respected his requests and portrayed him in the image he wished.
Today such press-presidency cooperation would be almost unimaginable in an era where every unflattering photograph or anecdote becomes frontpage news.
Yet it is not just the political sphere in which privacy has been so eroded.
Today the line between paparazzi and press has become increasingly blurred as salacious scandals and stalker-like tactics have become commonplace as ordinary citizens now increasingly perform the role of photojournalist and reporter.
In our era of omnipresent smartphone cameras and live-streaming, there is little left that is off limits to sharing with the world.
See an oddly dressed individual going about their business in their front yard? Photograph it and post to social media lampooning their fashion choices.
Witness someone breaking the rules about eating or drinking on the subway? Confront them and post a citizen’s mugshot for the whole world to see.
Upset that someone didn’t pick up after their dog? Chase them down the street live-streaming with your smartphone and stand in front of their home broadcasting their address to the world.
See someone barbecuing in an undesignated area? Turn your smartphone to live-stream and barge into the middle of their picnic screaming and shouting in an attempt to provoke them enough to get a good show for those tuning in from around the world.
Catch your neighbor cheating on their diet by stopping for a donut on the way home? Barge into the store and confront them red-handed, posting the photos to social media to globally shame them.
See an exhausted janitor juggling four jobs taking a brief nap on the bus on their way to their next work? Capture a gallery of them sleeping in their uniform, then post to social media and tag their employer, pretending you saw them asleep at work and see if you can get them fired just for fun.
Don’t like the demographics or perspectives of your new neighbor? Stand in your yard pointing a camera at them and photograph their family and young children, posting those images to hate group Websites along with their home address and encourage others to harass or harm them.
See a visually impaired individual struggling to navigate around a pile of e-scooters blocking the sidewalk? Don’t offer to help them, pull out your camera and share a video of the episode for the world to mock, making sure to get their name and address to really rack up the viral views.
Two decades ago such scenarios could not even be imagined.
Today they are sadly routine.
The social era has created an entire generation of privileged citizenry that believes it is their inalienable right to photograph anyone anywhere for any reason and share that imagery with the world.
We are all now citizen’s auxiliaries, granted the right to barge into any rules infraction, no matter how small or large and name and shame.
We have the right to dox those we dislike and call for harassment and even violence against them.
We are gifted the ability to photograph any innocent person going about their business and subject them to global ridicule just because of their differing physical abilities.
The rise of the omnipresent smartphone with its camera and mobile connectivity transformed our ability to share the world around us.
Unfortunately, it also empowered a generation of citizenry with the tools to commit public ridicule and to harness the Web’s dark side to enforce their own views of what the world should look like.
The town stocks are back in full force today, but now they are global. Even young children are not spared, with schoolyard bullying now transformed into global humiliation.
It is unclear what might turn the tide against this movement given the depth at which it is now entrenched into our societal fabric.
Perhaps the only hope for change would be changes in social media platform rules to discourage such abuses.
Putting this all together, as it has done in the online world, social media is rapidly stripping away the last shreds of our offline privacy.
Soon the very concept of privacy and freedom from the world’s watching eyes will be nothing more than a quaint memory of a long-ago forgotten past.
