Digital privacy doesn't always make headline news
unless celebrity nudes are leaked
or compromising corporate emails are made public.
But our relationship to the internet has reached
an unprecedented level of connectedness.
In this new environment, the state of privacy deserves a closer look.
In this series I will travel the world to undergo challenges
that will explore our digital life in the 21st century.
Let's look at how we got here.
Before the 1600s most people's homes were communal.
Life orientated around a central fireplace.
There was very little privacy or personal space.
And then a revolutionary new technology, the chimney.
People could lock themselves and their things in personal spaces.
They began to appreciate their privacy
and expect that what happened behind closed doors stayed there.
The rich have always had better control over their privacy.
In 1890s Boston, Warren and Brandeis were attorneys for the high society.
So, the next tech innovation came along.
Their clients had grown accustomed to letting their hair down
behind closed doors.
When photos of their parties landed on the front-pages of gossip rags,
they were suitably outraged and sued them.
They won and the right to privacy was born.
Now, that was fine until the next big tech innovation came along
and put a device into our homes and our pockets
that lets us air our dirty laundry to the world.
Our attitudes and the law haven't caught up yet.
I'm in Los Angeles to meet Max, a professional digital detective,
who protects business and celebrity online reputations.
I gave him just my name and then challenged him
to gather as much information about me
from what I'd willingly shared online.
- You ready to go through the box? - I'm a bit nervous, to be fair.
Let's walk you through it. This is scratching the surface.
This is a couple of hours of work.
That's pretty deep.
You have a pretty sizeable digital footprint
and most of this represents media that you put out yourself.
You might say to me, "I'm not worried about you revealing any information."
But if I'm looking to get you to do something you might not want to do,
I'm going to use anything at my disposal
to create some psychological leverage.
- All right. What is that? - Your personal media footprint.
Right. OK.
These are all terrible pictures that I took with silly hair and...
Lots and lots of selfies.
And places that you go that you yelp about.
Did I yelp?
Your location is revealed, documenting yourself
and capturing unintended clues.
All of this I've intended. Absolutely all of this I've intended.
You've got a grin on your face. That says we're about to dive into...
Yes. OK. So now we're getting...
How did you find all of my addresses?
Because you did a registration. You signed a document.
Your previous addresses, pieces of ownership.
- Yes. - And photographs from the inside.
Wow. Oh, my gosh.
- Because now that's on Airbnb. - A walk-through of your spaces.
Yes. My assets.
I'm gaining more and more personal information, including...
That's my business addresses, tax exemptions,
all of my company business.
Yes. Your worth. Your finances.
This goes into a larger question
of how companies are treating their technology and their policy
if they even have a policy.
In many cases I've seen it's an afterthought.
In start-up mode, many companies, they hire their developers
and then the information policy comes much, much later.
But doing it from the beginning, when you register that domain,
create these corporations, you're starting that footprint.
You need to control that from the beginning
and I'm going to come back to the human element
and the people that you care about and that you love
because you've done overall a very good job of hiding.
There are a few things I could use to exploit more information,
but if I'm looking to get you to do something you might not want to do,
here's where your human interactions betray you.
Your mum tweets about you.
Yes, she does.
And your mum doesn't button up her personal information.
And I found out where she lived and I sent somebody to her house.
No?!
- She wasn't home then. - I think she was here.
But I know where she lives.
That's recent because that's the new porch!
That's not an old photograph.
- That's creepy! - This was two days ago.
Yes, that's...
Your friends and your family might not be so tight.
What we're looking at here is a pile of things that have been indexed
and then over time, as software gets more sophisticated,
they'll get more searchable and obtainable.
We cast long digital shadows.
If an individual can leave this much of a mark,
imagine the footprint left by a business with hundreds of employees
all with the company email addresses,
all contributing to the collective online reputation.
But what happens when data that was never meant for public consumption
ends up in the wrong hands?
Rethinking privacy will become even more urgent
as we delve into the world of hacking.