Originally published on Substack
I created this cartoon because I often hear older people make fun that younger people don’t care about privacy because they are exposing so much of their lives. But I find these sentiments to be blatant because young people are exposing their lives because of the way technology pushes, pushes, cajoles, manipulates, coerces and outright forces them to do so. Older generations have built the world that younger generations grow up in and are therefore responsible for the lack of privacy that younger generations experience.
When they claim that younger generations are giving up their privacy, older generations simply blame the victims. Younger people are not willing to give up their privacy; They live in a world where having privacy is increasingly difficult and often impossible.
More than a decade ago, I wrote a post about young people’s views on privacy. I think it still holds up today and I’m posting it below with just a few minor adjustments.
Yes, young people care about privacy
A common argument I hear is that young people simply don’t care about privacy. If they cared about privacy, why would they share so much personal information on Facebook? Why would they text so much? Why would they be so arrogant about their privacy? It is argued that privacy will be dead within a generation.
This argument is flawed for several reasons. Studies show that young people do care about privacy. A study by Chris Hoofnagle and others found that young people’s attitudes about privacy did not differ much from the attitudes of older people. A study sponsored by Microsoft found that “[p]“Privacy and security are college students’ number one concern about online activity.”
But what is the reason for the behavior of sharing so much personal data online? First, young people (especially teenagers) may not be thinking about the consequences of their actions. This doesn’t mean they will never care about privacy; They may care about privacy in the future.
Secondly, new technologies are an important fact in their lives. We live in a world in which it is increasingly difficult to give up the use of these technologies, especially when they are very useful and beneficial.
Third, technologies can make it easier for people to share information without the normal factors that can make people fully understand the consequences. If you put people in a packed auditorium, would they say the same things they say online? Most likely not. This is because when people post online, they don’t see hundreds or thousands of faces staring back at them. Seeing all those people visually makes you understand the consequences more than just looking at a computer screen. People also say things online that they would never say to another person face to face.
Fourth, young people have a very nuanced understanding of privacy. They don’t see privacy as simply keeping secrets. They understand privacy as controlling the flow of information. Nowadays it is rare to be able to hide information from absolutely everyone. There are too many technologies that capture images and information. Instead, people control who sees their information. They configure their social media profiles to allow certain people access but not others. They allow some companies to have their data but do not want others to access it or want it to be used in some ways but not others. Privacy is not all or nothing: it is about modulating boundaries and controlling data.
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Daniel J. Solove is the Bernard Professor of Intellectual Property and Technology Law at George Washington University Law School. He is the founder of TeachPrivacy, a company that provides workforce privacy, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence training to companies and organizations around the world. He is the author of more than 10 books and more than 100 articles.
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