Dualities in Public Opinion and the issue of Privacy

In today’s world, and the somewhat futuristic world of The Circle privacy, or lack thereof, is increasingly becoming one of the most important and controversial topic of the age.

Privacy in The Circle

Privacy in the world of The Circle begins as nearly nonexistent, and finishes as completely nonexistent.

Social networking has infiltrated even further into society in this strange yet familiar world. Circlers, such as Mae, are not just encouraged, but required to be active online on The Circle’s variety of social networking platforms. Anything done but not posted is cause for suspicion. Why hide something from people that they could enjoy, unless it’s bad? Mae, the rest of The Circlers, and the rest of the world are becoming increasingly enamored with sharing every aspect of their lives.

This over sharing is just the beginning, though. Eventually cameras with live feed posted on the Internet are placed almost everywhere in the world. These cameras give any person unlimited visual and auditory access to almost any place in the world. But perhaps this is a good thing? Crime rates go down, and people who cannot travel can finally see the world. Privacy is less, but surely there isn’t any issue yet?

The final stage is transparency. People begin wearing cameras around their neck that see and hear everything they do. Not only is this the new political craze, but “average” people, including Mae, become transparent as well, allowing everyone to see literally everything that goes on in their lives.

This lack of privacy is hailed by almost the entire world as revolutionarily beneficial. Only a few outcasts of society, such as Mae’s ex boyfriend and her parents reject the new order of things.

Privacy in the Modern World

Privacy is one of the most divisive and important topics of our generation.

The clearest illustration of this is the recent NSA scandal. It was disclosed that the government listens to the calls and reads the emails of normal Americans in an attempt to stop terrorists. The release of this data caused one of the biggest scandals of the modern era and instantly led to legal action.

Although people in general, and American’s especially, are becoming more and more willing to share intimate details of their personal lives, we balk at the idea of the government knowing insignificant details we share with our acquaintances.

Comparison

The juxtaposition of views concerning privacy extremely apparent, and makes me wonder if it was on purpose.

Perhaps the differences are meant to illustrate the hypocrisy of the modern era’s privacy view. We will share every aspect of our lives with a for profit company without a second glance, but live in fear of the government, a body created in service of the people, knowing any aspect of our lives. Is this because we chose to trust the company, or because we believe the free market can protect our secrets better than our elected officials?

I see the dualities in viewpoints as a clever comment on our societies somewhat dimwitted inconsistencies in the field of privacy. Perhaps this is what Eggers intended to do, or perhaps he was just disconnected with the views of society. Whatever the reason, I believe the issues of privacy brought up should not only facilitate a new perspective on our current times, but maybe even warn us about the possibility of future issues.