4.13. The Death of Ephemeral Conversation

Originally published in Forbes, 18 October 2006

The political firestorm over former U.S. Representative Mark Foley's salacious instant messages hides another issue, one about privacy. We are rapidly turning into a society where our intimate conversations can be saved and made public later. This represents an enormous loss of freedom and liberty, and the only way to solve the problem is through legislation.