Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (1989). ![]() Legal debates surrounding obscurity can be traced back at least to U.S. Consequently, the concept remains under-theorized as courts continue their seemingly Sisyphean struggle with finding meaning in the concept of privacy. Since few online disclosures are truly confidential or highly publicized, the lion's share of communication on the social web falls along the expansive continuum of obscurity: a range that runs from completely hidden to totally obvious.ĭiscussion of obscurity in the case law remains sparse. Disclosing information in coded ways that only a limited audience will grasp enhances obscurity, too. So does using privacy settings and pseudonyms. Being invisible to search engines increases obscurity. Online, obscurity is created through a combination of factors. Less committed folks, however, experience great effort as a deterrent. Competent and determined data hunters armed with the right tools can always find a way to get it. Obscurity is the idea that when information is hard to obtain or understand, it is, to some degree, safe. Fortunately, obscurity has a narrower purview. Other times they evoke privacy to discuss issues associated with corporate access to personal information. Sometimes, people talk about privacy when they are worried about confidentiality. It grabs our attention easily, but is hard to pin down. This is unfortunate, as "privacy" is an over-extended concept. While many debates over technology and privacy concern obscurity, the term rarely gets used. If we rely too much on them, we'll miss the core problem: the more accessible our Facebook information becomes, the less obscurity protects our interests. Neither framing device, however, is adequate. And, yes, there just might be more stalking ahead. Yes, Zuckerberg appears to be respecting our current privacy settings. Unfortunately, most of the rapid-fire analysts haven't framed the story properly. In regard to the meaning of something said or written, obscure is general, being founded upon the figure of light which is insufficient to enable one to see with any clearness this figure is still felt in all the uses of the word.Facebook's announcement of its new Graph search tool on Tuesday set off yet another round of rapid-fire analysis about whether Facebook is properly handling its users' privacy. The more literal sense of "indistinct, without clearness of form or outline, hardly perceptible, not capable of being clearly seen through lack of light" is attested in English from 1590s. of persons, "not illustrious or noted, unknown to fame," 1540s. The figurative sense of "not readily understood, not manifest to the mind or understanding" is from early 15c. 1400, "dark," figuratively "morally unenlightened gloomy," from Old French obscur, oscur "dark, clouded, gloomy dim, not clear" (12c.) and directly from Latin obscurus "dark, dusky, shady," figuratively "unknown unintelligible hard to discern from insignificant ancestors," from ob "over" (see ob-) + -scurus "covered," from PIE root *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal." Related: Obscurely.
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