{"id":1454,"date":"2011-02-26T09:18:48","date_gmt":"2011-02-26T14:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/?p=1454"},"modified":"2020-04-04T13:08:39","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T17:08:39","slug":"online-honesty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/2011\/02\/26\/online-honesty\/","title":{"rendered":"Online Honesty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m a fan of honesty and openness. It\u2019s simpler and much less stressful to only have to remember a single narrative or persona, no matter who I\u2019m talking to. I also no longer believe in long term online secrecy. Once you post a picture, a letter, or whatever \u2013 that\u2019s forever. Putting something online is a public action. It\u2019s a visible statement in the public square \u2013 and the internet is our ubiquitous camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should know: This will be entered on your permanent record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sites like the wayback machine<\/a> ensure that more is kept than is lost. I use them for trivial stuff like getting old versions of hardware manuals. It\u2019s also the case that however much you want to delete that old blog post \u2013 you probably can\u2019t. I\u2019ll be able to find it. If I can find it, you can bet that a determined lawyer or (heaven forbid) a national interest can probably do it faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s part of the reason that I have a blog that includes the same name that\u2019s on my driver\u2019s license. It reminds me that there is no such thing as \u201cfriends locked\u201d or private posts. If I wanted a private journal, I would use paper and pen \u2013 or perhaps a text editor on my laptop. I don\u2019t particularly want a private journal. I find that it focuses my thinking when I write for other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Important issues should be presented in writing. Nothing so sharpens the thought process a writing down one's arguments. Weaknesses overlooked in oral discussion become painfully obvious on the written page.\" - H. Rickover<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be clear: I\u2019m not one of the Radical Honesty nut jobs<\/a>. They seem to substitute a tasteless and rude bluntness \u2018tactless and rude\u2019 over \u2018honest.\u2019 Blurting out every little thought that crossed my mind wouldn\u2019t be some sort of enlightened state. It would be Asperger\u2019s syndrome. \u201cEditing myself,\u201d by falling silent rather than saying \u201cI think you\u2019re ugly,\u201d is not somehow \u201clying.\u201d Lying is lying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As more and more of the world is defined as \u201cpublic,\u201d we\u2019ll have to get used to the idea that more and more of our actions are subject to recording and fact checking. Right now it\u2019s just beginning. Yes, your tweets can get you fired. Yes, your facebook posts can incite revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is power and wonder down this road \u2013 but we\u2019re all going to have to get a bit better at honesty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m a fan of honesty and openness. It\u2019s simpler and much less stressful to only have to remember a single narrative or persona, no matter who I\u2019m talking to. I also no longer believe in long term online secrecy. Once you post a picture, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1455,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1454\/revisions\/1455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dwan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}