Public Means Public

I seem to keep running into people who don't understand the concept of public vs. private. It's so bizarre, because it's always been pretty clear to me. There are some grey areas, for sure, but I keep running into this scenario.
Someone posts something publicly to YouTube, Facebook, or some other site. Other people see it, and don't like it, or they have questions.
Then people lose their minds. They scream and yell about privacy, and Big Brother, and the constitution and the gestapo, etc. Then, of course, someone points out to them that the YouTube video, Tweet, or Facebook post in question was posted P-U-B-L-I-C-L-Y, and people still flip out about privacy, and big brother and all that.
There seems to be this pervasive idea of a public-ish/private-ish internet. That when you post something to a PUBLIC website or a PUBLIC forum, it's still somehow kinda-sorta private. That your employer, the Feds, your Mom, your school, are not allowed to look at it. Or ask questions about it. Or hold you accountable for it.
I've known pretty much from the get go with the internet that if a website doesn't specifically spell out that a post is private...it's public. Anyone can see it. If you can view the site without logging in, so can anyone else.

kitty sees what you did 
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's fascinating that people have somehow invented this fiction of a public-ish/private-ish internet in their minds that never ever existed, and now seem to be mad that it's disappearing. I don't know how they got there. One day, a long time ago, around 2001 or so, I was bored and googled my email address. It was in a couple searchable places. I googled my full name, my address, and various usernames I've used on websites, and everything turned up results. At the time, I asked Google to ditch my address and phone number(they were out of date anyway) because I didn't want all that connected to my name online. They complied.

Was this surprising? Somewhat, none of the stuff I found on myself was stuff that I had posted privately. The outdated home address was publicly available information, it was in a phone book at some point. All the posts under the usernames were at sites that you could view without logging in. So, from there on in, it was clear to me that I might want to be more selective in my online commentary. No one would be able to know these things if I didn't type them out, photograph them and then post them publicly. Posting to the internet publicly is like putting up a billboard the whole galaxy can see, and thus you have to take that into consideration when you post things. Sometimes it's better to limit your audience.

That's why I never post to the Facebook public feed. That's why my Facebook profile is locked down tight. That's why I've made very very few YouTube videos, because I'm not entirely sure I want a lot of video documentation of myself online. That's why most of my Google+ posts that are public are pretty tame, or at least (I hope) funny. That's why I don't blog as much as I used to, as not everything I have to say necessarily NEEDS a public audience.

You can have privacy online, but it comes at the price of how much of an audience you can have, obviously. Having no audience is the only way to have complete privacy. (Which is why you sing in the shower!) By posting things publicly, you are choosing to be in the public eye, for better or worse. While the public may not much care what you have to say most of the time, it doesn't mean they won't ever take an interest (now or in the future). So just like anyone making a public speech, you should probably be careful what you say.

Somehow some folks think that's a violation of their rights. But, how is that any different than watching what you say at work? Or watching what you say in front of relatives? Or children? Or complete strangers? Or the Police? When you meet new people at a party, aren't you at least a little cautious about what topics you discuss or how you phrase things? I am. I don't want to make a fool of myself before people know me. (Once they know me, though, it's fool city) Even then, there are things I would NEVER say in front of my boss, so I make sure I don't say them in forums my boss has access to, either. I have a mother-in-law now (she's a peach!), but now I have to take into consideration if something I say on Facebook might bother her or offend her. I can still say it, but the consequence of speech is accountability, and that's always been true. I don't think having to think before I speak, post, or publish, is an unconstitutional burden. I think it's just part of life, and as the internet gets more involved in our daily lives, it becomes part of the equation, too.