The Right to Privacy Versus the Right to Gossip

In the age of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Google, I get the feeling that many people on the web don’t believe there is such a thing as a right to privacy anymore. Instead, it has been replaced by the notion that everything is fair to talk about. Whether it takes the form of an angry blog post, a salacious gossip website, or an ill-conceived Twitter update, it has become apparent that people don’t use the same kind of mental filter on the web that they do in real life. Gossip and slander can spread through the web in lightning speed. Even if it’s not malicious, an inaccurate piece of information could end up haunting you for years. Sometimes, in our rush to be part of the conversation, just to say something, we don’t consider whether  it’s something that should be said.

Of course, we here at ReputationDefender don’t believe that the right to privacy doesn’t exist anymore. It’s why we get up everyday to help people regain control of their reputations online and remove their personally identifiable information from the web. We’re not the only ones who believe in the right to privacy over the right to gossip either.

In a recent blog post for Psychology Today, Dr. Steven Reiss, Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at The Ohio State University, talks about the ongoing Tiger Woods scandal and why we as a culture have become so disinterested in protecting our own right to privacy.

From the post:

Media is expanding by trashing privacy. Powerful interests want gossip to be a right – think reality television, Google, bloggers, radio, and newspapers. They want privacy rights downgraded so they can learn all there is to know about each of us and make money selling our personal information to advertisers. Hackers steal your personal information from computer banks and people just shrug rather than demand something be done.

[...]

Gossip is not admirable. Kicking Tiger Woods when he is down is not admirable. Assuming that whatever happened between him and his wife is all Tiger’s fault is not expertise. Attacking Tiger without understanding that it hurts his children is not sensitivity, and if you are a professional, it’s not responsible commentary.

I do not support or make excuses for infidelity. What happened with Tiger’s marriage is a personal tragedy for his family. Truth be told, I don’t give a hoot about Tiger Woods. Infidelity is rampant in the country; I support serious efforts to strengthen marriage. What I oppose is making gossip a right that trumps the right to privacy of people who are in the private sector. National gossip is not the way to “punish” immorality: It is the path toward a society where Google becomes the state police who knows everything about everybody and can sell it for their own gain.”

Dr. Reiss’ passionate call to heed our own right to privacy and begin living a life where we respect the privacy of others is well founded and eloquently stated. I wonder, however, if it is too great a call. Are we too far gone down the road of instant fame and oversharing that we can’t relearn what does and does not belong online? We are walking along the precipice of a new age in communications. Whether we decide to continue treating one another like pieces of data rather than individuals who deserve respect will go a long way toward determining the civility of our society.

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