James Gleick, in What Just Happened, writes this about privacy:
In public opinion surveys, Americans always favor privacy. Then they turn around and sell it cheaply. Most vehemently oppose any suggestion of a national identification system yet volunteer their telephone numbers and mothers' maiden names and even-grudgingly or not-their social security numbers to merchants bearing discounts or Web services offering "membership" privileges. For most, the abstract notion of privacy suggests a mystical, romantic cowboyera set of freedoms. Yet in the real world it boils down to matters of small convenience. Certainly where other people's privacy is concerned, we seem willing to lower our standards. We have become a society with a cavernous appetite for news and gossip. Our era has replaced the tacit, eyes-averted civility of an earlier time with exhibitionism and prying. Even borderline public figures must get used to the nation's eyes in their bedrooms and pocketbooks. That's not Big Brother watching us. It's us.
Do you agree that Americans seem to be willing to sell their own privacy cheaply while simultaneously craving private information about one another? If so, what role do you think technology has played in all of this? Can you imagine technology being used in new and different ways that might affect these trends?