Danah Boyd at SXSW2010 on privacy and publicity

A video clip of Dana Boyd‘s opening keynote at SXSW2010 by explaining why Google Buzz crossed a privacy barrier:

Her keynote conflicted with other sessions. I did not attend, but am able to enjoy through the SXSW Channel, and because she posted the draft of her speech “Making Sense of Privacy and Publicity” on her blog. There she explains Facebook’s privacy FAIL in December:

By continuously arguing that Privacy is Dead, technologists justify their efforts to make publicly available data more public. But there’s a big difference between something being publicly available and being publicized. I worry about how others are going to publicize this publicly available Facebook data and, more importantly, who will get hurt in the cross-fire.

On the need for privacy:

Wanting privacy is not about needing something to hide. It’s about wanting to maintain control. Often, privacy isn’t about hiding; it’s about creating space to open up. If you remember that privacy is about maintaining a sense of control, you can understand why Privacy is Not Dead. There are good reasons to engage in public; there always have been. But wanting to be in public doesn’t mean wanting to lose control.

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