An American prostitute called “Kirsten” has had sex with the Governor of New York.
He’s now very sorry and she’s now very famous. It’s happened before and it will happen again. And let’s be honest, this kind of behaviour does have certain precedents (or is that presidents?) in the White House. But the real story here isn’t about sex or infidelity, it’s about the making of celebrity and, in particular, how different generations view privacy.

How “Kristen” got outed is unclear. Once her real name became known there was almost no candid detail about her that the media — or anyone else with an internet connection — didn’t know about. Ashley Dupre’s MySpace page has already received five million hits. We know what she likes and what she thinks. We also know she has 1,799 ‘friends’ — or 1,798 if you exclude an ex Governor known as “Mr Clean.”

It is alleged that “Mr Clean’ got caught is because of a phone tap, which is touchingly old-fashioned. However, it is doubtful whether this is the only evidence. No form of communication is safe these days. Neither are digital payments. Assuming he didn’t pay in cash for ‘services rendered’ there will be a data trail linking “Mr Clean” to “dirty” Ms Dupre. If the media is lucky there might even be some ‘material’ evidence that makes its way into court – or perhaps onto eBay. In other words, privacy in a digital and connected age is dead. Gen Y knows this and doesn’t care. Gen X and the Boomer Generation either don’t realise or are horrified.

As for the young Ms Dupre (22), she probably can’t see what all the fuss is about.
After all, posting personal material on a social networking site like MySpace is de-rigour these days. It’s the way young people keep in touch. These are places where Gen Y hangs, shops and expose themselves safe in the knowledge that their privacy-obsessed parents have no idea what they’re doing. It’s a way to see and be seen and to keep in touch with friends, especially if you have 1,799 of them.

But in Cyberspace nothing ever dies. If you upload something there is no guarantee that you will ever be able to get it back again. It could be cut and pasted and appear on countless other websites and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Equally, whilst you might deactivate an account on a social networking site but there is no guarantee that personal information will be removed from the website’s servers.

So if, as a 19-year-old, you appear in a rather explicit amateur video on YouPorn or post drunken photographs on Facebook or it could stay up forever for prospective marriage partners or future employers or to see.

So far, legal cases concerning the issue of privacy online are almost unheard of but it’s surely only a matter of time. I already know of Gen X employers that use social networking sites to research prospective Gen Y employees and only last week I heard of a forty-year-old boss stumbling upon a conversation that one of his junior members of staff was having online about whether or not to quit his “horrible” job.

It’s a tangled world wide web we are weaving.

Maybe this bothers you. Maybe it doesn’t. Your attitude towards privacy will depend on how old you are. If you are aged thirty or forty plus you probably cringe at the thought of allowing the world to peer past the net curtains into your life. How could anyone be so naive as to be a prostitute and have a MySpace page?

But if you’re younger you probably can’t see what the problem is. Ms Dupre will sell her story and gain instant global celebrity. She told the truth about herself and has emerged victorious. There will be a book, a talkshow and a range of politically incorrect underwear.

So what will happen in the future? The internet has removed many of the factors that limit our behaviour offline, but this boundary between real and virtual life will disappear, especially as mobile devices become the primary portals of connectivity.

We will also see the emergence of technology refuseniks. In most cases these will be older people ‘unplugging’ as a way of dealing with privacy concerns or information overload. However, many younger people will also move ‘off network’ because the social pressure to be always online or collect digital friends will create a kind of Facebook fatigue or MySpace malaise. Similarly, younger people will use multiple online personas to protect their identity online.

The good news is that all this digital connectivity will make individuals and institutions more transparent, which will make us more honest, but it will also mean much less privacy. Corey Worthington would understand.