Facebook: the 'creepy' test

The Telegraph has an article here quoting Sean Parker, an investor in and former president of Facebook, commenting “There’s good creepy and there’s bad creepy. And today’s creepy is tomorrow’s necessity”. This is akin to Zuckerberg's recent pronouncement (and PR gaff) that privacy is dead. Certainly in Europe, the debate has a long way to go. What is interesting though is the clash of philosophies, that is perhaps along a Europe/US divide. One tends towards deontological positions (as enshrined in the Article 29 working group's position in privacy) and that of the US. This, at least as far as industry goes, but also many legislators, appears more Pragmatic, in the sense that privacy is not absolute. Rather, it is up for renegotiation as social circumstances change. Of course, while deontological positions run the risk of outdating themselves, Pragmatic perspectives are subject to those who are powerful enough to dicate the conversation. The privacy issue on both sides of the Atlantic has a long long way to go.