Did We Lose the War to Protect Our Privacy?

Like the Vietnam War and quite possibly the war in Iraq the war to protect privacy seems lost. Privacy as we know it is all but dead. There are many reasons for this but in my opinion a major part of the problem is that those of us who want to protect privacy have done a very poor job and at the head of the list are members of my profession in mental health treatment.

Like our brilliant Defense Department both at the time of Vietnam and today in Iraq we have bungled the job better than if we were working for the other side. We failed to understand the current problems and issues and like most all losers attempt to fight today's battle with tactics from previous wars.

Case in point is in the class room. The latest article in Inside Higher Education talks about students with camera cell phones posting pictures of their professors on a website. However it can be in a doctor's office or psychotherapist office just as well. Frankly I am not sure that is so terrible since it is the student or patient doing the posting and I am not sure the teacher or health care professionals deserves much privacy.

The point is however that with the technology today there is no privacy as we knew it. We need to redefine privacy.