Privacy has been a concern for us humans ever since the first tribe started building individual huts, giving the occupants shelter as well as personal space. And individual privacy has been violated since the first person started peeking in the window of that first hut, curious about what might be going on inside that was so interesting that it required privacy from the rest of the tribe. Over the years we have discovered more ways to protect privacy and, hand in hand, more ways to violate privacy. We close shades to keep out peepers but don't know if someone has planted a micro camera in the room. We close the door to make a private phone call, but don't know if someone is listening to the phone line.
Traditionally we have worried about people with nefarious intent spying on us. A blackmailer, a private detective, a foreign government, our own government these are the people and organizations that we have worried about in the past. Ones that are specifically targeting us because we are doing something of interest to them. If we are doing nothing interesting, we don't have to worry about them, do we?
But now all that has changed. Big Brother is still spying on us, true, but even with all the fancy eavesdropping equipment that we learn about from people like Edward Snowden there is only so much that they can do. And in the end, the information they collect is only available to them. For the US government do be a worry they first need to be actively spying on you, and then they need to decide that what you are doing warrants them getting involved (like by arresting you). Sure, I'd prefer that they not listen to my phone calls but other than driving 70 in a 60 MPH zone ( just for example naturally I would never actually do such a thing) I really haven't been doing much lately that would give them reason to be interested in me. The one I worry about is not Big Brother, but rather Little Brother.
The term Little Brother was first coined in a New York Times article published in 2010. Or at least so I've read, and it must be true because I read it on the internet, right? I could probably research that but it seems like too much work so we'll just assume that's correct. Anyway, the point of the article was that we no longer need to worry about Big Brother invading our privacy. It's the lady in the caf with the smart phone who thinks the way I drink my Latte is funny and decides to share it on Youtube. It's the friend who thinks the autocorrect error on a text message is so funny that they just have to post it on Instagram and then Tweet about it. With my name on it. It's everyone around me who, thanks to the smartphone, is carrying around a camera 24/7 with the ability to instantly share with the world any social transgression, any humorous error in my ways, any private moment for any reason.
And there is a third category of potential privacy abuses: companies. Each day it becomes easier and easier to collect and store information on customers. Couple this with a drive for companies to personalize their interaction with each customer, which relies on collecting and storing information about them, and there is more information about you than ever before being collected and stored by companies you do business with or even look at. And this, at least, is an area you can do something about. You can't control what the government does, and you can't control what the guy sitting across from you on the bus does. But you can impact what businesses do with your information.
Having personal information is not always a bad thing. Thanks to Google, if I have to see ads on the pages I surf at least they are increasingly about things I might actually be interested in. A little creepy, yes, but still something that improves my experience. If I have to get bombarded with junk mail in my mailbox before Christmas, at least if can be for products that I might actually want. The issue comes in when these companies sell my information or worse, let it get out accidentally. Selling information is at least usually spelled out in a privacy policy. But theft of information who knows when that can happen? And this is where we need to insist that if we are going to give a company our personal information that they take proper precautions.
Despite the occasional notice I get about my credit card information having been potentially hacked from one company or another, most companies are pretty diligent about computer security. Leaving your computer systems vulnerable invites not just theft of information but total disruption of business. Unfortunately, many companies do not give the same level of attention to paper-based information. The focus is increasingly on electronic information, but there is still a huge amount of personal information that is printed out on forms, reports, communication, etc. This information needs to be treated with the same respect and concern.
You can't stop the government, or the people around you, but you can ask a business whether they shred all of their documents or just drop them in a recycling bin. If they want your business, tell them that they need to treat your information with confidence and that includes a comprehensive shredding program. Or take your business elsewhere. That part of your life you do still have control over.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Privacy has been a concern for us humans ever since the first tribe started building individual huts, giving the occupants shelter as well as personal space. And individual privacy has been violated since the first person started peeking in the window of that first hut, curious about what might be going on inside that was so interesting that it required privacy from the rest of the tribe. Over the years we have discovered more ways to protect privacy and, hand in hand, more ways to violate privacy. We close shades to keep out peepers but don't know if someone has planted a micro camera in the room. We close the door to make a private phone call, but don't know if someone is listening to the phone line.
