We are hurtling towards a world of total information capture where email, texting, instant message and mobile video are documenting our everyday speech and action – in effect rendering all speech as text. There will be few places to “talk” without that talk being given the weight and permanence of text.

The only people who stand to benefit from clearly defined limits on how your personal data is handled (or pay the price) are you and I; a shambling horde – disorganized and charmed at the moment by the first of the two possible narratives.

The consistent argument is that people have an “insatiable appetite” for sharing, that privacy is dead and that this is a positive social development. This spin on privacy is also an abdication of reality and corporate responsibility.

While we have been wringing our hands over the loss of newspapers this year, I fundamentally believe that journalism will come out OK… I can’t say the same for the prospects of remaining anonymous in civic life.

How you set up your Facebook account has a lot to do with how you use it and how much privacy you need – Just remember, there is no substitute for exercising discrtion and never posting things that you don’t want to go public. You never know….