Privacy (or lack thereof) has been the buzz word these last few weeks as issues like SOPA and the corresponding blackout of certain major Internet sites has exploded throughout the Internet and nearly all social media outlets. This comes on the heels of Facebook's November settlement with the FTC about continuing to allow user data to be open and searchable and report earlier in 2011 about certain phones tracking the whereabouts of its users.
It certainly appears that privacy is dead (or at least losing the battle) in a social-based and technology-centric world.
But what does this mean for emergency managers? Should we stay out of the way and let technology advocates hash-out how much privacy (or lack thereof) is acceptable? Do we fight as an advocate against continued intrusions?
Or do we look for opportunities to leverage these new tools for good. This is the kind of issue that has and will always be challenging to emergency management. Do we maintain a clear and ethical stance of neither encouraging nor discouraging current trends or do we ride the wave and identify new ways to leverage these tools.
