This Saturday 13th August 8-9 PM on It’s A Question Of Balance we are featuring Out And About – thought-provoking conversations on the street. We consider ‘Where Do We Draw The Privacy Line in a Public Space?’
From a legal perspective there is only an expectation of privacy in public in very limited circumstances. Nevertheless, there has always been an informal code of conduct governing our respect for others’ personal space and privacy in public. Nowadays with the advent of social media and nearly every phone being a camera has this code of conduct changed? What level of privacy do we expect in a public space? How much privacy do we accord others? Is this dependent on how we were brought up? Or what our friends do? When posting content acquired in a public space do people even think about when it’s appropriate to do so? Is there a difference between taking video or photos to share just with friends in person, and posting that photo or video on social media?
There’s been a lot of discussion of surveillance by the state via CCTV cameras, particularly prevalent in the UK, with the whole fear of ‘Big Brother is watching you’. Is it possible though that we the people are in danger of actually becoming Big Brother by voluntarily posting so much information about ourselves and other people so that there is no real privacy? Due to the possibility to search information online and the ease with which law enforcement agencies and technology companies can aggregate data, a lot of information about people that once would have been considered personal is now readily available. Do you feel we have changed our perception of what personal or private information constitutes?
What do you think? Ruth Copland gets the views of people on the street for our Out and About feature. Join us on Saturday 8-9 PM! For more info on the show and to hear past shows visit www.itsaquestionofbalance.com
In Out And About we consider topics with local relevance and global significance. The idea is to get us thinking about the questions that affect us all – to stimulate new thinking, or clarify what we already feel. To hear how other people’s opinions may differ from or be similar to our own.
