The concept of privacy belongs to all humans. It existed in all cultures. It
also belongs to those animals which mark their territory (you know how..), or
find hide outs. The need for privacy is due to ego, need for personal space, and
choice to decide what other should know about oneself or should not. But humans,
due to self-consciousness are more sensitive to it than other animals. The
concept of privacy is further defined by social values and norms that delineate
what one should reveal in public or should not.

So it is not a western concept. It is human nature and the need for his/her
individuality and existence.

But yes, the westerners have provided legal protection to personal privacy and
punishments for its intrusion. This part comes from the west.

Just like hiding and guarding the personal space is our natural instinct (for
safety, security); intruding into other's personal space (for control, power and
pleasure) is also our natural instinct. We are also one of the predators, though
we have covered our wildness behind clothes and trained behavior. Prowling,
prying and snooping is in our natural instinct. It is necessary for survival.

So snooping is natural. But it should not be used for exploitation.

But technology has empowered us to do it more effectively. Your opinions about
snooping are in its favour or against depending on whether you are the snooper
or the snooped.

For example, the administrator feels powerful and in control, when he snoops
through the e-mails of his employees. It helps him know who is switching the job
where and mitigate the crisis. But the employee cribs about violation of his
privacy right. But if that employee is a project manager, he tends to prowl over
his subordinates so as to find what they conspire against him or keeps his
informers around.

Law will decide some boundaries to judge how much of snooping is permissible.
But in my opinion, it is our natural instinct. One does not have to be a
psychopath to do it. Of course there are extreme cases due to supression or
other psychological disorders.

The only way out is- stay alert if you don't like being watched!

Dinesh
-

Pankaj Sapkal <pankaj.sapkal@...> wrote:

Firstly, one must note that the concept of privacy is a western concept.
Obviously, the concept of intruding on it is also fully western - a bipolar
reaction to it. Privacy has simply become a euphemism for isolationism -
this isolationism is precisely what leads to the virginia tech kind of
massacres and suicidality. I do not believe that the human psyche functions
so well in isolated situations as it does in situation of being connected
with other humans.
The western social paradigm is currently not fully able to distinguish
between snooping (which is one way) and connecting (which is both ways).
In a society where people are well connected to each other - either through
social customs and traditional bonding mechanisms and communities (or
thorough the latest virtual communities), isolation will disappear as a
social phenomenon (some fringe individuals will always be there) and
openness happens (which are not really identical with privacy and the giving
up of privacy).
There is an element of designing communities which will eventually happen
(and which is beginning to happen to a certain extent), which leads to an
emergent social consciousness where the concepts of privacy as isolation (
and hence the intrusion of privacy) do not exist in a way that they are
currently understood. (I believe that since Indians understand social
paradigms and communities, Indian designers will be inherently good at
community design and at creating social paradigms).

As for countering snooping, wherever there is technology, there is
counter-technology. So wherever it is important, one will be able to counter
one-way snooping.
Finally, one will stop countering monitoring because it will become too
effort-consuming to counter it all the time from every direction. You will
then only focus on protecting your financial information and perhaps the
intimate aspects of life and not give a damn about other stuff.
Frankly, apart from these two aspects, what else needs to be discrete? What
else has needed to be discrete since thousands of years?

Later,
- Pankaj Sapkal


On 4/30/07, Sagarmoy Paul wrote:
>
> Dear Sandip
>
> I share your apprehensions and agree that it is sick and immoral to
> pry on children. It is the age of voyeurs and peeping Toms.
> See the high TRP ratings of so-called reality shows on tv. All of us
> are guilty.
>
> George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty Four" took little longer to arrive
> than expected. Instead of only "big brothers" watching us, it's now
> everyone's game. In USA there are schools with realtime webcasting of
> classrooms for parents to check their wards from time to time in
> their lap tops or mobile phones. This business has cashed on in
> people's insecurity post 9/11.
>
> Tomorrow the business will expand to work places (already has),
> shops, bed rooms, travels. With blue tooth/wifi enabled web-cams
> becoming commonplace, every one has the potential of becoming a James
> Bond. There will no longer be a concept of privacy as we have known.
>
> The next big thing, which is almost here is GPS enabled mobile
> phones. A teen-tracking GPS service is now available where a working
> parent (or anybody) can define a "virtual-fence" around his ward's
> school to home, for example, without his/her knowledge. If he/she
> deviates from the "fence" the parent starts getting automatic SMSs
> with geographic indicator of his/her current location. This way he
> can keep spying on whoever he wants to. Its already here.
>
> In spite of all these, massacres in campuses happen, kidnappings
> become daily occurrences.
>
> Sagarmoy Paul
> NID (PEP-GD, 1981-87)
> THOUGHTSCAPE
> New Delhi
>
> -----------------------------------
>
>
> On 30-Apr-07, at 2:40 PM, p.a.u.l wrote:
>
> > Dear Ravi,
> >
> > It was nice to see schools getting techno savvy...but the issue I
> > raised was lost somewhere I feel.
> >
> > Techonology as aid to teaching is accepted and appreciated...but
> > what about the issues/morals that are not in the curriculum but are
> > still reflected in a person who has been through primary education?
> >
> > Why are schools only busy finishing up the syllabus?..and not
> > focussing on over all growth of children?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Paul Sandip
> > Industrial Sculptor
> > 09899302457
> >
> > _________________________________________________
> >
> > Pudi Ravi Krishna
> wrote: Hi
> Paul,
> > I had been to a school in Orissa this month.
> > I was surprised to find closed circuit cameras there.
> > They were installed by an MBA friend of mine who is the alumni of the
> > school.
> > It was his idea of taking the school forward.
> >
> > Over the past two years, he had initiated projects like
> > 1. photo ID card for students
> > 2. CCTV
> > 3. IVRS for parents to check marks of their wards
> > 4. Design of database system for student information
> >
> > His next agenda was SMS enabled information retrieval.
> > When I protested vehemently that such interventions put undue pressure
> > on the students, he dragged me along.
> >
> > Some photographs of the study:
> > http://picasaweb.google.com/pudiravi/School
> >
> > The school now enjoys its enhanced reputation as being 'technology'
> > savvy.
> > Neighbouring schools have to compete on similar lines.
> >
> > When I questioned the absence of 'Technology' to aid teaching, the
> > principal
> >
> > retorted that there was no time since they have to cover the
> > curriculum.
> > In the end I seem to conclude that business and technology have
> > done what
> > they believe is right. If the designer believes that it is not
> > right, then
> > he will need to adopt a more proactive role.
> >
> > More Gyan:
> > http://mistakesareok.blogspot.com
> >
> > warm regards
> > Pudi Ravi Krishna
> > Mumbai
> >
> > On 27/04/07, p.a.u.l >
> wrote:
> > >
> > > The other day I heard some one say that schools in Delhi would
> > now have
> > > CCTV all over, to monitor the activities of the students in schools.
> > >
> > > School is where we groom our future generations. Are we so much
> > in doubt
> > > with the credibility of our educational system, that we need to
> > pry on
> > > children too.
> > >
> > > Where is our society heading towards?
> > >
> > >
> > > Paul Sandip
> > > _______________
> > > Industrial Sculptor
> > > 0 98 99 302 457
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
> > > Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
> > > Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> > warm regards
> > Pudi Ravi Krishna
> > Hyderabad
> > 09885194614
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
> > Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>



--
"We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are."
- Tobias Wolff, 'In Pharaoh's Army'


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






Yahoo! Groups Links






---------------------------------
Check out what you're missing if you're not on Yahoo! Messenger

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]