For the longest time I wondered why someone might violate anyone's privacy. It is one of those things I had never done and could not comprehend the motivations for. I do grasp why people steal for example. If I was hungry and dying I might steal an apple or bread, and that is perfectly alright, especially if I was in a place where there was no help in that regard. Greater thefts like stealing someone's car I still do not think valid - but in dire times one must do what is needed for survival and that we all can agree upon. Murder is way beyond the scope of this article but even that is justifiable in times of self-defense, war, and so on, but not otherwise. However, privacy violations are usually done during times of peace, and exceedingly so during times of long lasting peace, and that I could not grasp the origins of for the longest time.
Then it occurred to me to think along different terms. Nobody wants their own privacy violated, not even the people violating the privacy of others. In fact, if a hacker violated yours by jacking into your webcam, they would hate if their own was jacked. Criminals rarely appreciate being victims of crime. So however you look at it, we all do not like crime nor privacy violations - yet they happen. Thieves do not like their own money leaving their pocket either, do they? So I think these sorts of things are a power trip. I can do to you that which you can not do to me and therefore I am above you and you are my little tiny chewawa on my leash of power, which when I tug you do my bidding. It's ego. It's self-centeredness. It's selfishness it's what it is. But privacy violations are just a stepping stone, they are not an end goal. Nobody sets out to violate another's privacy in and of itself. They usually have a further agenda and the violation is merely one of their toddler steps into abusing another - as clearly most wouldn't violate their own privacy.
But what are they trying to achieve after the privacy violation? Usually it is some form of bullying, extortion, or again, a power trip for their ego-centric personality, which is most likely disordered psyche phenomenon. Most people would never jack another's webcam, or steal emails, most I say, because it is this attitude that I embodied as a system administrator and as a programmer. Most I say because it is how most people were in my life of forty years. However, the few and far between whom are so dysfunctional they go out of their way just to violate your privacy I do not understand but can only guess at an explanation. Perhaps an example would be best.
You and I are business partners. And we've been exchanging emails now for ten years. But at a major deal arrangement, I want the situation to go one way and you another. We are at an impasse. We've talked in person, over dinners, in emails, in FaceTime, even on Facebook! And still I feel my way is best for the company and you feel yours is. It just so happens both are impossible to achieve, sort of like a Mergers and Acquisitions deals. We must choose one path, together. But, I feel that your path would destroy the company and thus paranoia strikes. On a vigilant high I take your last email where you called me names others would perceive as uncouth and share the email with select people whom I know like me more than you. I do not share anything other than these few tidbits and say things that indicate you have been abusing in this regard for a while now, and I do not understand why. Further I add that you were nice all these years but suddenly you became questionable in your judgment and the emails I shared are proof - after all, it's a side of my business partner nobody has ever seen but me for I am sharing personal and private information, clearly you must have gone insane and I've been protecting you for years! Pretty soon our joint friends withdraw, others start asking questions, and before you know it, the business deal goes my way. This is what privacy violations are for and why they are illegal. My sharing of those few emails was a violation of my business partner's privacy. Our email has an expectation of privacy just like our FaceTime, Skype, or phone conversations. What I did was more than unfair even if all I did was share the emails. Reason being is that I did not share the full context of the matter but only that which allowed me to convince others of my point of view about the other party. And I was convincing them with the explicit purpose of directing a business meeting through defamation. It's not libel because I used the other party's own words, but it is a crime because of the motive. If our emails on the subject had amassed to fifty or so and I only shared five, and that was all I needed to share to convince others of my perspective, then I clearly manipulated the entire situation didn't I? I showed only outlier data and ignored all else just to get others to analyze falsely the material. And I knew it would work because I know a bit about psychology. It would be as if when the grocer drops eggs and swears once in their whole life I said to you in private "The grocer is so aggressive, he breaks eggs and curses all the time!". This is a manipulative statement, too, even though it's true it really isn't. The full truth is what's missing and that would be "Grocer must be having a difficult day I heard him swearing for the first time in 30 years!". One is in the ball park and the other is not.
This is why privacy violations are a crime. Not because of privacy itself but because they are merely a stepping stone to much greater misuses of power, of resources, and of our time. And believe me, despite what the latest Marvel movies make us all believe, we are all mortal, we all have limited time and none of us can undo what we did last summer. So crimes that waste time oughta be the worst sort and that is what privacy violations are. For they require of the victim to prove, endlessly, a thing the bully proved behind their back otherwise. And not just to the bully, but to everyone who has come under that dark belief of mis-analysis of their personality due to the missharing of out of context details. Privacy violations are one of the easiest things to do in this modern digital world and as most people are quite trusting the sort who commit it should be dealt with promptly. For when they do not get attended to, what follows is a power trip the size of Godzilla. Once they see they can do it to one person, they move on and on and on to further and further victims. This is why gossiping is frowned upon, for it is nothing but verbal privacy violation. Gossip is a hit and run type of thing with one difference. Your face is attached to the message, unlike with the sharing of emails. Either way, I think I grasp finally this item and I think the rest of you do as well. Please note I did not violate anybody's privacy in this post, and the grocer that swore was a holly made up tale. No grocer has ever dropped any eggs and cursed, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment