In online networked environments, everything we do can be monitored. Absent the cues that establish social context in the manifest world, social software systems ask us to strike a bargain. If individuals agree to work transparently, they (and their employers) can know more, do more, and sell more.
For many people, the required level of transparency will take some getting used to. “Our customers now include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Morgan Stanley, and intelligence agencies,” says David Gilmour, CEO of Tacit Knowledge Systems. “And they all have come to believe this technology that watches and compiles -- for the benefit of the individual -- is going to become a permanent backdrop and the dominant paradigm for enterprise software.”
Tacit’s ActiveNet watches and compiles email messages and documents written by employees, to ensure that no two people whose document trails reveal a mutual interest in making a connection fail to miss one another. “But it’s not our job to force you to work together,” Gilmour says. Users' content remains private; ActiveNet works only with explicit consent.
Can transparency and privacy coexist? Gilmour argues that they can. We have a reasonable expectation that our phones aren’t bugged, he says. If our voice mailboxes fill up and we become unresponsive, though, that becomes an issue that will be noticed and dealt with. The enterprise has a legitimate interest in finding bottlenecks. “Privacy privileges are constructive when applied to who-knows-what and who-knows-whom,” he says. “But we don’t think you’re entitled to privacy about whether you’re available for interaction.”
[Source: John Udell]
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