Please stop live tweeting people’s private conversations

by joosters • 13 years ago

50 86 13 years ago

nichochar• 13 years ago

It's weird, I somewhat agree but somehow I find them very entertaining, do you think the damage is that bad, especially if there are no names?

parallelist5• 13 years ago

It still demonstrates a lack of concern for the privacy of the people you overheard

Atroxide3• 13 years ago

what? People talking in public places have privacy?

waterlion• 13 years ago

There are a range of people out there, all of them on all kinds of spectrums. Empathy, privacy, personality disorders, stress, oppression, rage, kindness, selfishness, selflessness, love, hate.

The thing about 'real' friendships is that you can form into groups of people that you broadly correlate with. I think some people are naturally always going to be in conflict. With the internet you can't avoid this. Everyone is thrust together, and we realise that the spectrums really wider and more diverse than we realised. This is a story as old as long-distance communication and was very well illustrated yesterday in the whole Joyent "I would fire this man if I had the chance" thing.

I have come to realise that there are people who really are happy to share very private things. I wouldn't dream of doing that. I haven't really associated with them 'in real life' because I don't think what I had for breakfast, or my medical or sexual history are anyone's business but my own and those close to me.

How does this relate to TFA?

There are a lot of people out there. They're all different. I find the examples in TFA abhorrent. I would feel violated to have my personal conversations broadcast. But we're all humans and we all have to get along, because we're all only humans. It's the price we pay for society and this wonderful Internet thing.

Atroxide3• 13 years ago

As long as they aren't identified (by name, picture, etc.) who cares?

Also, this article is pretty lame. They complain about people live tweeting other people's private issues but then they share EVERY single one of these examples with links and backstories. This is doing the exact opposite that they preach.

michh• 13 years ago

People who may know them have more context and might recognise them, yes. If I'm on a flight from Amsterdam to London and I'm complaining to a friend about my boss, someone livetweeting my hilarious rant might keep me pretty unidentifiable by just using my first name.

But my boss probably knows I was on a flight from Amsterdam to London that day (as I asked him for permission to take the time off) and based on the rant will probably know it's me, talking about him. That could have some pretty serious consequences. Of course, maybe I shouldn't complain about work in public, but would you honestly want to live in a world where you couldn't?

ugexe• 13 years ago

So if I were to identify your family's address or your ssn online you wouldn't care? What about just your mothers phone number?

Atroxide3• 13 years ago

This IS identifying someone...

danso4• 13 years ago

I guess it's comforting knowing that someone who has a job because of social media is willing to speak out about one of its particular excesses?

That said, what is said in public is not private. This is generally good legal principle (as it pertains to the First Amendment) and it's good personal habit. If you don't want something to be exposed to the greater world and for perpetuity, than be discreet with whom and where you share it.

It's not a direct consequence of our society being more untrustworthy, it's a direct consequence of today's technology and medium. You didn't think the ability to near-limitlessly duplicate content and effortlessly and carelessly distribute it wouldn't have a few downsides, did you?

joosters3• 13 years ago

If you don't want something to be exposed to the greater world and for perpetuity

So the alternative is for me to hide in the basement for the rest of my life? That's a terrible argument. Public spaces are for everyone, new technology is no excuse for bad manners and offensive behavior.

danso4• 13 years ago

Uh, sorry. Why does anything require you to have to "hide in the basement for the rest of [your] life?" I walk into the supermarket knowing fully that a surveillance camera is at the front door, yet my distaste of that kind of surveillance does not force me to die of hunger (as all markets near me have cameras near by)

I'm not arguing that the situation is good or bad but that it simply is, particularly because of today's communication technology. Are you really going to argue from a stance of "But I don't wanna!"?

randallsquared• 13 years ago

My guess is that people who are now 5-10 years old will never find this sort of thing creepy. Eventually, our society will finish internalizing that there is no such thing as a private conversation in a public space.

chromanoid18• 13 years ago

a horrible vision. humanity is about empathy, showing vulnerability, being close to each other, arguing with each other and helping to understand each other. when this is always accompanied by vitriolic comments and shitstorms we will live in a cage of groupthink and democratic oppression.

chromanoid18• 13 years ago

The author makes great points and I totally agree with her. People who publish private conversations are little Hunter Moores. It's pure voyeurism and bullying. It's about exploiting others for a little internet fame.

mikeash16• 13 years ago

Please stop attempting to have "private" conversations in public at a volume level where others can easily overhear you.

parallelist5• 13 years ago

But if you are around people that do, please don’t tweet it.

mikeash16• 13 years ago

Why should my actions be limited by the wishes of inconsiderate people?

ryguytilidie• 13 years ago

The upside for me here is that maybe people will have an ounce of self awareness and keep stuff like this a bit more to themselves versus throwing tantrums in front of everyone when the smallest thing goes wrong.

parallelist5• 13 years ago

Only if you think that public humiliation is an effective form of education

mikeash16• 13 years ago

I imagine it to be quite effective education, personally.

NikolaTesla• 13 years ago

Can you imagine how much self awareness folks will have when everyone can switch on their wearable device and record it live in HD?

gpickett00• 13 years ago

Ironic that you're asking people to stop live tweeting conversations, then you link to said conversations and give them more pageviews.

badman_ting• 13 years ago

Some of the same people who had a huge problem with "creep shots" will take a surreptitious photo of someone in order to ridicule them, as if the lack of sexual interest makes it okay. I dunno, all I can figure is that everyone is terrible in their own way, and we love coming up with convoluted justifications as to why we're not terrible.

Aqueous• 13 years ago

We don't need the NSA - we all monitor each other.

vezzy-fnord• 13 years ago

This is perhaps the most aggravating thing of all.

I don't have a Facebook account, but sometimes I wonder what profile I have on there from pictures and mentions by other people concerning me.

systemtrigger• 13 years ago

I count 18 instances of the word "tweet" and 7 of "Twitter" in that short post. For the love of language please stop referring to the medium. She makes a fair point, and I agree with her in the case of the man whose full name was revealed, but who is harmed when a story about "Diane" or "a couple in Brooklyn" is published?

chromanoid18• 13 years ago

Like Mike Rogers says it: "You can't have your privacy violated if you don't know your privacy is violated." Or wut? (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131029/18020225059/mike-r...)

And in case of "Diane": You have a bad day, some depression or are socially incompetent? Shame on you, I am the Punisher and the world will now mock you for your failure!!1!

ohyes• 13 years ago

Don't air your dirty laundry in public if you don't want everyone seeing it. Seriously, what happened to discretion? If I take off all of my clothes and run through Central Park, I can't get mad because someone took a nude picture of me. Don't go to the coffee shop to make a scene with your spouse. The problem is that people aren't embarrassed by their bad behavior without someone shaming them publicly. Adults ought to know better.

chromanoid18• 13 years ago

Yeah, I hate those people who show their human side in public expecting me to sympathetically ignore it. I think the state could really earn back some money for all the cameras in public places. Maybe with a TV show like this: "London Life, your neighbours firsthand -> Do you know this idiot? He broke down in Oxford street after seeing his 'girlfriend' with his best friend kissing. Such a shitty looser." -.-

jasonlotito5• 13 years ago

You consider crying over a cheating lover bad behavior?

iamben5• 13 years ago

But what if I'm having a quiet conversation over coffee with a colleague in Starbucks (lambasting our boss), intended for our ears only, because inviting said (perhaps opposite sex) colleague to my house would be odd/creepy (or it's lunchtime)? What if the person on the table next to us can just about make out our conversation and decides it's interesting/humorous enough to tweet?

Perhaps we don't want to meet in the middle of a park or a deserted bridge - we want a coffee and it's cold. We're expecting some level of privacy and we're not broadcasting - we're just unfortunately seated.

I'm all for discretion and appropriate behaviour in public, but just because you can hear something doesn't mean you should tell the world about it. Have some decency! (I'm not referring to you personally!)

aaronem6• 13 years ago

Well, it depends. With the "roof breakup" stuff I have no problem, because there's little editorializing and no involvement, just a running report of those statements of which these two people have decided they absolutely must unburden themselves in public.

But the stuff on the plane is a whole different matter. Granted, the lady in 7-whatever wasn't behaving particularly well, and she should probably have known better. I've seen people behave similarly when I've flown around holidays, and especially when travel is delayed or interrupted by circumstances beyond anyone's control. But "Elan"'s behavior was even worse. "Eat my dick?" Honestly?

This isn't a case of someone answering poor public behavior with class; this is a case of someone behaving childishly within earshot of someone who is far more childish still, who giggles in joy at the opportunity to misbehave in an utterly crass fashion with some confidence that he'll receive kudos for it from his Twitter followers, on whose qualities I shall not here speculate.

I mean, really. I was with him up until the glass of wine; I thought "Good choice! Sending a gift shows consideration, and no doubt the note sent with it will explain that he's sorry she's having a bad time, but that they're all in the same notional boat, and perhaps the accompanying gift will help her relax and roll with the punches." Then I read the note.

By the time I got to the end of the travesty he perpetrated for his adoring Twitter public, I was glad she slapped him; I hope she made it a good one. "Spare the rod and spoil the child," after all, and it's quite plain from his own Twitter feed that this infant escaped preschool far too soon.

mmuro• 13 years ago

Ugh, if you are in public it's not private. Might as well rename the title to "Please stop live tweeting people's public conversations" if you want to make a real point.

chromanoid18• 13 years ago

Yeah, I see forward to funeral live reports. These tearful moments are so much better than movies.

mildtrepidation• 13 years ago

I believe we should give others consideration at all times, unless or until they earn either our respect or our ire. It becomes more and more obvious how old-fashioned and unpopular people find this view.

That wouldn't necessarily be a problem (well, a public one, anyway) without the great power that's been bestowed upon individuals by The Internet. All hail the internet, enabler of bad behavior from 4chan to Twitter (though with the kind of deeds documented here, I'm starting to wonder where the difference between the two went).

Now we have a total disregard for others coupled with the widespread ability to disseminate any kind of vitriol at the speed of LTE.

Not what I'd call social progress.

mikeash16• 13 years ago

Why doesn't shoving a private conversation in my ear qualify as earning my ire?

iamben5• 13 years ago

Unfortunately if you ever drink in a bar, eat in a restaurant - hell, pretty much do anything in public - at some point you're going to overhear someone's conversation. If it bugs you that much, you could stay at home (or get headphones) :-)

aaronem6• 13 years ago

Because your ear is not sacred. Welcome to human civilization! Sometimes you are going to hear things not meant for you. You will be judged on how you react when this occurs.

jasonlotito5• 13 years ago

Is the problem the sharing or the tweeting? Or the live part? Or is it all 3?

Because, frankly, this isn't new. It's the gossip train, except now digital, and a bit more anonymous.

chromanoid18• 13 years ago

What about global reach, permanence and "newspapers" picking up the stories for cheap entertainment?

jasonlotito5• 13 years ago

I guess what I'm asking is, at it's core, it's just gossip, but at what point does it cross the line? Where is that line? Because it's easy to say any gossip is crossing the line, but then complaining about a bad driver is exactly that: gossip about an anonymous party. Those "OH" tweets become just as bad. Which is why I ask: where do we draw that line?

iamben5• 13 years ago

At the end of the day, it's just bullying, isn't it? "Hey everyone, look at that kid who's just wet themselves - hahaha!"

We've all done it. Doesn't make it right. Even if the person you're mocking has been a complete tool, you don't know the backstory. Sure, they may just be a horrible person, but imagine their kid had just died and as a result they'd snapped over something completely trivial?

aaronem6• 13 years ago

I really think it takes a bit more than conducting oneself poorly on an aircraft to qualify for "horrible person". Kind of an asshole sometimes, at worst -- and that, of course, assumes that her behavior was accurately reported by this "Elan" item, in the course of proving himself scum entire.

brohoolio• 13 years ago

That yearofelan thing was one of the lamest things I've seen. There is nothing entertaining about a celebrity harassing a woman on a plane via sexually harassing notes.

You have no idea what's she's been through, where her state of mind is. Maybe the greater internet community hasn't experienced fucking terrible things in their lives that push you to the edge. Maybe they haven't had a family member with mental illness. This Elan guy clearly hasn't.

I don't understand why people are supportive of him being a 5th grade internet troll in real life. If he would have stood up and said eat my dick to her in person instead of sending passive aggressive notes he would have been kicked off the flight, arrested and congrats delaying everyone. Instead he sends creepy threatening notes to her. Great. Good job troll. Way to further ruin someones day.

He's lucky she didn't mention the notes to the flight attendants where it's possible everyone's thanksgiving gets ruined because the flight gets diverted and he gets arrested.

I'm not sure why all the websites picked it up and said it "Won Thanksgiving."

Sure, all those charities where awesome people are working at helping feed the poor don't win Thanksgiving, but some creepy celebrity saying "eat my dick" to some obviously stressed out women wins? Good job internet.

And dammit he trolled me from afar because I got so worked up I wrote this damn post about it.

chromanoid18• 13 years ago

Thank you!

sebastianavina• 13 years ago

it's possible that diane sues that guy for sexual harrasment? he already confessed...

yetanotherphd• 13 years ago

I'm really really confused.

A cool blogger can tell a woman to "eat my dick" and get a positive story in Huffington Post. The only issue raised on HN is his tweeting of her conversation, not his sexual harassment.

But a guy refuses a pull request that changes "him" to "them" and there is huge uproar?

Can someone please explain feminism to me? How do I get from "feminism is by definition the belief that women are people" to this?

Please stop live tweeting people’s private conversations

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