Blog of Leonid Mamchenkov

If you are browsing LiveJournal being logged in to your account, be warned - there is a way for LiveJournal users to see who read their posts.  This functionality is currently available only to Russian users (yes, related to recent SUP acquisition of LiveJournal) and is provided via LJ.ru service.

There seems to be no way to opt out of being seen by post authors, other than using a separate account or browsing LiveJournal anonymously.  Both of these ways have their limitations though (access, comments, friends, etc).

… what would happen if your Google account get stolen?  I know I haven’t.  And I don’t want to.  That would like losing a house in the flames, with all valuables inside it turning to ash.  Something of that magnitude, but worse.

I need to do a backup or something.  Do you?

Yesterday I watched an interesting program on the Discovery about the future of information technology. It was interesting not because I’ve learned a lot of new stuff - I didn’t. It was interesting to see what and how mass media in general and very trustworthy channel like Discovery in particular bring down onto unsuspecting public.

The program was pretty good. It touched on the history of IT, current technologies and trends, and things that await us in the near future. It covered both the technological points (in simple terms) and sociological points (how information technology affects our lives).

One particular piece caught my attention. It was about privacy, with all those mobile phones with built-in camera, CCTV cameras in public places, rapid advances in face recognition technologies, and governments pushing the limits of trust with anti-terrorism programs. One of the interviewed guys said something along the lines of (quoting from memory):”

Basically, there are two extremes when it comes to privacy. People on one side say “forget privacy. It does not exist in The New Age”. People on the other side believe that privacy is the only ultimate thing that we must protect at all costs.

Spot on! I can’t think of the way to present it better.

The question of privacy is up to each individual person. Each one of us has to ask himself or herself how much they care about their own privacy and what are they prepared to do protect it. I thought it about it sometime ago, and I am sometimes re-evaluating my position on this. But so far I haven’t changed it at all.

I am not standing on the extreme of “there is no such thing as privacy in The New Age”, but it’s much closer to me than the other position. Of course, there are some things which aren’t meant for the public eye (or ear for that matter). Personal things. Intimate things. Not everything should be an open broadcast. But, one shouldn’t spend too much time protecting these things.

If someone really wants to find out where you live, when you go on vacation, what is your bank account or passport number, what was the name of your first teacher, or what’s your worst nightmare, there are many ways to do so. And no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try to keep that to yourself, there are always ways to find out.

Why? Because we live in a society. People interact. People know things about people. People think about people. People follow people. People rumor.

You don’t want a bad guy to know where you live? Well, too bad. Because you can hardly control that. Have any of your friends been to your apartment? Do your parents know where you live? Have you bought or rented that place with any sort of paperwork? Do you go outside of your apartment where people can meet you and follow you? Do you… You get the point.

Your bank account and passport numbers are even easier. Because they are harder to change than a rented studio. And because too many people who simply don’t care about your privacy have access to that data.

Your nightmares? Oh well, most of them come from childhood anyway. So chances are at least your parents or siblings know about them. Cause they were with you way before you started caring about your privacy and moved out to live alone in the middle of nowhere. Have you ever heard them telling stories about you to others? I think you did…

Now, you’ll lose plenty of valuable resources (such as your time) working to protect that data. And you still won’t be able to do it to a full degree. And that is not the worse thing yet. The worst thing is that you’ll miss out on so much good that it’s hard to describe it in this already way too long of a post.

Yes, believe it or not (well, I do believe it), but people around you want to do good to you. And the more they know about you, the better are their chances to do that sort of good that you care about, and to delivery that good to you.

For me that solves out the privacy issue. The more ways I have to let people know things about me, the better. If there is a new web service that builds more social interaction based on my passport number, I’ll use it. If there are more CCTV cameras in the streets that solve the traffic problem - I say install them. If I will see more pictures and videos from my friends and family because of the new wave of mobile devices - I say bring it on.

What’s your stand on privacy?

Everyone and their brother is talking about the new Google service - Google Analytics. Basically, this is a smart way of getting website statistics. Instead of installing and configuring a local web log analyzer, you just sign up for the Analytics, insert some JavaScript code into your website and have the best stats ever made ready for you. Or not.

Google Analytics is called the biggests failer release by many. Things didn’t work as they were supposed to. Instead of fast and dynamic stats, people wait in queue for their statistics. Lots of bugs and lots of misbehaviors. I signed up myself and I had to wait for alsmost 12 hours for the site to be accepted. And now I have to wait for another 12 hours (or so I am promised) to get the first reports.

For me the idea of having stats done by Google is a pleasant one. If I think Google can do one thing right that wold be data aggregation. The paranoids all around us make lots of noise about privacy concerns and Big Brother is watching you conspiracies. Well, I simply don’t care.

Those of you who do care and want to avoid being tracked by Google can easily do so. All you need to do is block your browser from doing HTTP requests to “www.google-analytics.com”. Read this good article on the subject.