Naked On The Net - It’s A Good Thing

Big brother is watching, and I for one couldn't be more delighted.

My days of dashing out for the paper in my ratty robe may be gone forever, but now, thanks to Google, satellite pictures of my home are up on the Web for all the world to see.

The latest Internet phenom - www.Earth.Google.com - known as a 3-D interface to the planet - allows you free access to satellite images of just about anywhere. If you didn't know about it before, feel free to curse me for telling you, because once you open the site you'll be up all night clicking on everything from the house where you grew up to the Eiffel Tower.

Too cheap to take the kids to Niagara Falls? Fly in via satellite and you'll feel like you're riding the Maid of the Mist boat under the falls without even getting wet.

Like driving past your old boyfriend's house, but afraid of getting caught? Zoom in on the Web and see what's parked in his drive. Actually, you probably won't be able to tell if he finally hauled that old Chevy to the dump. The Earth Google photos aren't in real time. They were taken via satellite some time during the last three years.

But you don't have to be Steve Jobs or Bill Gates to make the technical leap and realize that if we can view still photos of your house on the Web today, by the end of next summer, we'll probably be able to watch live as you cut the grass.

If the thought of others seeing you curse the starter on your mower with sweat dripping down your tube top makes you feel uncomfortable, you're not alone. Many believe that this capability is further evidence of how technology is stripping away our privacy and taking society down the tubes.

I'm as creeped out as the next person at the thought of a drooling pervert watching me play catch with my kids.

But I'm beginning to wonder if the idea of everyone knowing more about everybody else is actually a step in the right direction. Pretty soon we'll all know how much everybody makes, whether they pick their nose while flipping burgers on the grill, and probably what they look like naked. And then at last, all pretenses will be gone.

We won't worry about somebody reading our mail or the neighbors finding out that we let our 2-year-old pee in the grass because we were too lazy to take them inside and put them on the big potty. Thanks to the Web, our lives will be an open book.

The late Boyd Clarke, of Tom Peters Company said, "We're in the infancy of the Internet. Its invention is the equivalent of only a few other communication turning points since the dawn of time - the invention of the written word, the invention of the spoken word and the invention printing press."

The spoken word allowed caveman Zorg to tell his brother Ogg about the plans to go hunting with his new pal Zug. A few scribbled words on papyrus enabled ancient Egyptians to form alliances by recording who was related to whom. And the printing press was how Ben Franklin and his pals dispersed the ideas that united the colonies for the American Revolution.

With each step up the communication ladder, people become more connected to each other and previously secret information becomes widely known.

It once was thought television was the final stop on the communication frontier. But while TV may have altered the fabric of daily life, it was merely laying the groundwork for more sweeping changes that were yet to come. TV's scripted situations and entertaining images got us used to having strangers inside our homes. And reality shows have now anestheticized us to the gross-ness, humiliation and angst of real life on planet Earth.

With an entire generation raised beside a flickering screen, TV prepared our culture for what the Internet is now enabling us to do: get up close and personal with people we've never met.

The endless information on the Web may mean that you now know more about your disease than your doctor, and thanks to www.ConsumerReports.org, car buying will never be the same. But the truly transformative power of the Internet isn't just our access to data - it's our access to each other.

For better or for worse, we're at the tipping point of a radical societal change. The world is getting smaller and we're getting more connected every day.

I personally think it's a good thing. It's going to be pretty hard to hate a guy half a world away when his video blog shows how much he loves his kids. And with satellites watching us all, it will be harder for the evil guys to find a place to hide.

Just like holding up a mirror up to a toddler, the Internet can be a way for people around the globe to take a closer look at ourselves. I only wonder if we'll like what we see.

Snellville resident Lisa Earle McLeod is a nationally recognized speaker and the author of "Forget Perfect: Finding Joy, Meaning, and Satisfaction in the Life You've Already Got and the YOU You Already Are." She has been seen on "Good Morning America" and featured in Lifetime, Glamour and The New York Times.

Contact Lisa at www.ForgetPerfect.com if you would like additional columns.

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