I've been wondering for a while now whether the Internet should be considered as part of 'private' or 'public' space. A good example of the reason for this dilemma is actually this blog. It's on the Blogger domain (owned by Google), it's searchable.... But pretty much all of the hits I get here are from you guys on Facebook--people I know in real life, in short. So this blog, although publicly accessible, is in a lot of ways 'private' content.
From the other end, something like a Facebook page--which does have a ton of private information such as real name, address, photos of stupid people doing illegal things (or at least photos taken by idiots)--can be found with relative ease. Even if you have the privacy set up correctly--and when I say correctly I mean as far as their increasingly limited options let you--keep in mind that all Facebook employees as well as friends of friends or a semi-skilled hacker can break right in.
Personally, it's delusional to call the Internet private space at all. From a legal perspective, people should treat the Internet--and expect their posted content to be treated--as if it were fully public. Obviously, the amount of content goes a long way to protect pirates and defamers, as well as a certain amount of anonymity, but hello it's online. People can find it. You're storing your information on a server that is wired in to a massive network.
Privacy is dead.
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