Post-Privacy

We have inadvertently entered the world of bits and bytes. Thanks to smart mobile phones, we can literally be tracked at every turn. With every expression of life on social networks, we enrich a data pool somewhere that can be analyzed, filtered, and interpreted. The datafication of society leaves hardly any area of life untouched. Alongside this datafication, a construct that was previously regarded as an inviolable fundamental right in all modern democracies is also fraying: the right to privacy. However, in light of the openness and carefreeness with which private fragments increasingly find their way into the public sphere, this right seems to be hardly enforced anymore. "Transparency instead of privacy" is the mantra of post-privacy, the era after privacy. The potential implications are significant.