I asked the question, "How much personal information should we allow online?" in a previous post titled, Online Personal Information - How Much Is Too Much?. This question has been weighing heavily on my mind this entire week, so I have decided to expand on some of the ideas that I touched on in that previous post, in this article. I will explore the implications of online privacy, transparency, redundancy, accountability, and risks in this article. You will see that there are benefits to walking a tight line of balance between complete online transparency, and the far more prevalant ultra-privacy that our current American society expects in everyday life.

We know that social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are wildly popular, first among Generation Y, and now also for Generation X and even some Baby Boomers. Is it wise to have an online persona on such sites? I think it is, but one must be very careful about exactly how much information is shared on such sites. Yes, many of these sites allow you to restrict others to limited amounts of information, but there have been ongoing incidents of breaches of this psuedo-privacy which can lead to identity theft, fraud, or simply the loss of perceived privacy. It can be useful to have an online persona so that friends and family can be kept up-to-date on the little things of life that describe who you are and what you like to do. Sites like LinkedIn can even help you keep up with your business contacts and network which can lead to a better career and higher pay.

What are the downsides to an online persona? Well, the most obvious issue is the double-edged sword of constant monitoring... everyone knows what you're likes and dislikes are. This can be bad for you if you post all those images of the drunken college partying you did along with all of your irresponsible, bad behavior that resulted in negative outcomes for you or your friends, then a future employer, date, or friends can easily search your history of behavior (not just your publicly available, government recorded information) to determine your suitability for employment, friendship, or marriage.

Am I advocating that you should only post online about your positives - aka, a resume? No. But information online may be permanently available through Internet archival, caching, or simply the inability to delete your personal information at a later time, so post wisely, share wisely, and keep your future in mind. How would your mother respond if she saw your online persona?

Another big issue to concern ourselves with is the potential for abuses by government with digital data. There is a Slashdot story on the DHS being able to confiscate any electronics which highlights the fact that we are no longer exactly free from random search and seizure by government officials. A Wired story by Bruce Schneier on why privacy is good argues that privacy is a right that the USA's founding fathers automatically assumed was so fundamental a right, that they didn't even call it out specifically, preferring to instead focus on the more fundamental tenets of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice."

So how much of my online information like medical records, financial records, spending habits, relationship status, political or religious affiliation, or even location information should I give out to the government or corporations? This is a less well-defined area of thought than simply an online persona, but let us explore it for a few minutes.

We already give corporations and government a lot of our most personal information. Our Social Security Number is used for driver licensing, mortgage loan applications, adoption applications, car loans, doctor records, and the list could go on and on. When we give this information online to trusted parties we always are giving up a small portion of our expectation to privacy. Commerce and daily life would be awfully restricted if we did not participate in these activities because the risk to government and corporations would be too high. The government could approve a repeat DUI offender for a new driver license, the mortgage broker would give low interest rates to a home purchaser with three foreclosures in their past, or the doctor could misdiagnose a treatment if they did not have some of our personal history to look at when they begin serving us. So giving up our privacy can be a good thing - if we know who can be trusted to use our personal information without abusing our individual rights to life, liberty. and the pursuit of justice.

So who should we trust? Would you give your medical history to your car salesman? We make these decisions almost daily, but then seem to forget all about them when we post information online. Does the job recruiter really need to know that I'm having complications from my knee surgery or that I am really angry with my boss for having the audacity to tell me what kind of software I am allowed to install on my work computer? Again, we should be measured and careful in the information that we share with others both in real life, and in our online personas.

How much information do I share online? I have a Facebook account, I have this website, and I have multiple sites online where I have recorded information about myself. Some of this information I have cross-linked, other bits of info I have not. Why? Because I feel that I can trust the entire world with some information about me (what types of books I'm reading or have read, who my favorite music bands are, or thoughts and things I have done that I would have no problem sharing with a random stranger on the sidewalk), but there are many things I don't trust giving out to just anyone (where I physically am located at this very moment, what I am doing right now, or all of my religious, political, or social beliefs) because some info is just too likely to be abused if I were to give it away. Maybe my trust level, or lack of expectation to privacy, will change in the future - I'll just have to wait and see.

Oh yes, and before wrapping up this post, let's remember one other positive benefit to posting personal information online. Abusers of that information can sometimes quickly be refuted. If the government were to arrest me and call me a terrorist because I yelled the word "bomb!" in an airport - look at this website. Does any of my writing on this site show me to be a political dissident? a terrorist? someone looking to harm others? No it does not. Balance in this day and age is difficult, but storing the appropriate amount of personal information about ourselves can help maintain that balance when it comes to our personal lives.