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October 14, 2003
O'Brien on Public, Private, and Secret discourse
Posted by Clay Shirky
_Brilliant_ Danny O'Brien post about
the difference between public, private, and secret speech, and how the internet creates a loss of private speech, leaving us only a choice between public and secret speech.
On the net, you have public, or you have secrets. The private intermediate sphere, with its careful buffering. is shattered. E-mails are forwarded verbatim. IRC transcripts, with throwaway comments, are preserved forever. You talk to your friends online, you talk to the world.
This is why, incidentally, why people hate blogs so much. My God, people say, how can Livejournallers be so self-obsessed? Oh, Christ, is Xeni talking about LA art again? Why won't they all shut up?
The answer why they won't shut up is - they're not talking to you. They're talking in the private register of blogs, that confidential style between secret-and-public. And you found them via Google. They're having a bad day. They're writing for friends who are interested in their hobbies and their life. Meanwhile, you're standing fifty yards away with a sneer, a telephoto lens and a directional microphone. Who's obsessed now?
Absolutely required reading.
Comments (1)
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1. JamesJayTrouble on April 27, 2004 7:19 PM writes...
Again, sorry to Trouble you:
But this is why I'm in favor of (some flavor of) DMCA. I know this is not popular, but when I engage in a private email, IRC, or whatever, I'd like it to remain private. If I send it, and mark it as available to others if-and-only-if I am informed as to who gets it, I want to be informed. If I mark it as publishable/forwardable by the person I send it to, but NOT publishable/forwardable by those people that get it, I'd like that to be made very difficult by something-like a DMCA.
I don't care if it's hardware or software, but would guess I'd prefer both solutions, overlapping.
Also sorry to Trouble, but there is some need for clarity (or what I'd call sanity...;-) regarding blogs/comments/etc. If it's posted on the Net, with a potential audience of some 600,000,000 members and growing..
..Well, in what way would a blog, in any way, shape, or form, be considered partly private?!?
Gimme a break! (I mean, unless we are talking a password-protected blog, it ain't private.. no way, no how.. right?)
Iow, just because the writing style is "that confidential style between secret-and-public".. does this somehow change reality? Reality numbering 600,000,000 and counting...
Again, sorry to disrupt the meme. But imo/o (in my opinion/observation) most-a these meme's floating around are crap.
Speakin o witch, I read Mr. O'Brien's piece, when I should-a spent the time finishing The Tyranny of Structureless which appears, to me so far, pretty accurate. They relate well.. as one is talking about elistists and the harmful effects, and the other is claiming elitism is okay as long as it's by the usual suspects and everybody hugs a (Californian) tree as good cult members are supposed ta...
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