Earlier this week, I had what to me is an astonishing encounter here on Daily Kos. A Kossack who I recognize, but with whom I've never really interacted, replied to one of my comments with a detail about my personal life.
Privacy has weighed heavily on me lately due to the recent changes in Facebook. This excellent blog entry sums up many of my questions nicely:
In essence, our digital footprint takes ourselves, as well as others, on a journey that may not have a specific destination.
Now I find myself asking: if not for our addiction to convenience, would our concept of privacy be kept more intact?
I consider myself a rather casual user of Daily Kos. I've had a couple of diaries on the rec list and I comment maybe a few times a day. But I read far more than I write diaries or comment. So I would never say that I'm high profile or really even have a profile.
But this encounter with the somewhat familiar Kossack got me wondering, how many people here have been affected by what I've written? How many recognize me? How much influence does a casual user create? The implications are pretty significant to me. Daily Kos is reported to have over 2.5 million unique visitors per month. So despite my low profile and relatively low participation rate, I may have more of an impact than I realized. I am not a public person, but am I slowly creating a public persona?
Daily Kos is a convenient forum to publicize and draw attention to issues. But what am I giving away in writing here? Is the loss of privacy worth the ounce of influence? What's your take?