Identification and the practices of identity and privacy in everyday digital communication

Abstract

The growth of e-services and social networking sites is generating popular online participation in which pre-digital ways of securing the privacy of individual identity are undermined. The characteristics of digital communication mean technology developers, policymakers, service providers and individuals are rethinking senses of identity, processes of identification and what privacy means in everyday life. To ensure that identity and privacy are respected in communication raises two issues. One, there is a gap between social context of communication practice and the technological feasibility of privacy tools. Two, the concept of privacy is not fully adapted and refined for use in the digital networked age. This paper outlines the way in which privacy in digital communication is being interpreted, and discusses the ways in which identification is a useful concept in developing knowledge and systems to support contemporary practices of privacy.