Degrees of Privacy

I was discussing the social networking phenomena with some VCs while at CES and one of the more prolific VCs in the sector remarked that over 60 percent of American teenagers and kids have their biographical details and/or pictures on one or more social networks (e.g. MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, YouTube, etc.) and that the number continues to grow despite privacy concerns.  While I find the numbers a bit staggering, I can’t honestly say I’m surprised.  The media has been glorifying exhibitionism and celebrity status for years and a vast majority of today’s social network denizens literally grew up with the Internet and American celebrity pop culture…and share their lives in a very open way.  So where am I going with all this?  I’m not quite sure yet as to my final destination here so much as I am about the general direction I seem to be heading.  I think there should essentially be a stratification of privacy such that different protocols and permissions exist for each personal fact (or, from a metadata perspective, set of similar facts) in a way so as to afford “user-controlled flexible privacy” for individuals and organizations.  So, anyone familiar with anyone working on something along those lines?  If so, please let me know…

A bit of additional color commentary here.  I recall reading a book about ten or so years ago, the author and title of which currently escape me, the central premise of which was that privacy ceased to exist years ago and that the best we could hope for in today’s age was the illusion of privacy.  So what’s my point?  I guess my point is that, illusory or not, there currently seems to be two primary degrees of privacy on-line: 1) freedom from embarrassment from others knowing certain details about you (e.g., web sites visited, products purchased, and other facts coming to light in the public forum that is the Internet), and 2) freedom from theft/fraud (e.g, ID theft, fraudulent e-commerce, etc).   The former at the center of on-line advertising sector(s) and the continuing quest for contextual and personal relevancy and the latter at the center of the security sector.  Both areas still ripe for innovation.  Well, I’m off to check my Facebook account so until next time, happy venturing…