Story: Thinktank: Debate ID cards or drop them

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IDENTITY RIGHTS

Thanks Matt,

Where I'm going with this angle is that what you or I create here - as words in this post or what information we provide as individuals whether created by us or by third parties, should actually be considered as 'an extension of our total identity'.

Your and my writing here, is an extension of our thoughts, observations, considerations, interpretations, possible values and perhaps even feelings and attitudes and even when freely published
should remain the property of the individual who created them (the 'creator'). Writing is in all respects an origination of thoughts transferred to words/ text and quite often presented in an original
contextual sequence or order as constructed by the creator. The words I write here, are in fact, of my design by my will to write them. I alone, am choosing them and creating the sequence in which they are delivered. Would you not agree that means that I 'own the sequence?' And if I do, then as originator i.e. 'sequence generator', they are in effect extensions of my identity.

Your site is in essence an 'open online journal' which publishes information created by those employed/ writing for the site and by people like me who add content to the overall 'product offering' -
ZDNet.co.uk.

As site owners you probably no doubt have the right to re-publish. However, my 'creators rights' should mean that my name accompanies each and every re-publishing and that I can, if I so choose to do so, request that the writings by me, be removed.

What I am getting at is why is information created by an individual any different from say their personal information? It came from them. Why isn't it theirs?

Creating information that is either particular to us, to our identity, or even our way of thinking provides a means to extract a 'thoughts profile'.

Once personal information has been published here or on social networks such as FB and MyS it's not that easy to remove. This makes me wonder (if anyone actually knows) just how long such data is remains stored in servers around the world? More importantly, just how much replication is taking place and if so, how long will the data be retained? Years? A lifetime?

Finally, I'm not quite sure what exactly you meant by 'arguably more valuable' in your opening comments - 'The smartest thing that Facebook does is not in fact asking you for information about yourself. It asks other people (your friends) for information about -
such as when and how you met etc. This is arguably more valuable in the long run that [sic] our browsing habits, and possibly as valuable in some respects as the content of our emails, for purposes of targetting ads.' More valuable to whom? And for what reason?

TFD

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