Territoriality Versus Virtuality Versus Reality — The Dark Side of the Information Age
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025859 |
| Date | 01 March 1998 |
| Published date | 01 March 1998 |
| Pages | 36-44 |
| Author | Wilmer Parker |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
Journal of Financial Crime — Vol. 6 No. 1 — Analysis
Territoriality Versus Virtuality Versus Reality — The
Dark Side of the Information Age
Wilmer Parker III
While the Global Information Infrastructure 'GIF
or 'Information Superhighway' may be touted as
providing world-wide access to information, in
reality it provides world-wide access to individuals.
The GII is a communication tool among human
beings. It may be a means of furthering entrepre-
neurial endeavours (lawful and unlawful), as well
as a means to penetrate the privacy of individuals.
'Territoriality' — Territorial status, persistent
attachment to a specific territory, relates to a geo-
graphical area belonging or under the jurisdiction
of a government authority. 'Virtuality' relates to
being in essence or effect, but not in fact. 'Reality'
is the quality or state of being real. In reality, the
GII provides a means of diminished privacy of all
persons regardless of whether they use the inter-
net.
PRIVACY DENIED
In the early morning hours of 31st August, 1997,
Europeans awoke to the horrific news of the death
of Diana, the Princess of Wales, in a tragic car
accident. The early news reports indicated that she
was travelling in a Mercedes Benz on the streets of
Paris in the company of a male companion, their
bodyguard and a driver. In hot pursuit allegedly
were paparazzi, individuals with press credentials
intent on obtaining photographs of the Princess of
Wales in the company of her companion. Report-
edly, the Mercedes Benz in an effort to escape the
intrusive paparazzi, travelled through the streets of
Paris at upwards of 100 mph only to crash in a
tunnel near the Eiffel Tower.1 The Princess of
Wales died four hours after the incident.
The initial outpouring of grief was immediately
evident not only among the citizens of the UK,
but also of individuals of nations throughout the
world. Commentators took to the airwaves to
denounce the conduct of the paparazzi in endan-
gering the life of the Princess of Wales in an effort
to obtain photographs which would then be pub-
lished in tabloid newspapers. Admittedly the Prin-
cess of Wales had been a world public figure ever
since her marriage in the early 1980s to the future
King of England. Further, many commentators
noted that Diana was able to obtain her world
notoriety in part based on the publicity (both
favourable and unfavourable) which surrounded
her daily activities. Clearly, the public was inter-
ested in Diana an icon and paid for information
concerning her life by and through the purchase of
publications. It was the public's willingness to pur-
chase such information (albeit in the form of tab-
loid newspaper articles and photographs) that one
mourner cited as a basis for suggesting that 'we'
were responsible in part for the Princess of Wales'
untimely death. Her brother, Earl Spencer, con-
demned the paparazzi and accused all who partici-
pated in the purchase and publication of Diana's
photographs as having her blood on their hands.
What relevance does this tragic incident have to
the Information Superhighway?
While many may feel that the Princess of Wales,
as a world-wide public figure, had no expectation
of privacy, clearly others believed she was entitled
to some privacy. Everyone believes they have an
expectation of privacy. However, the reality of the
Information Superhighway indicates that expecta-
tion of privacy exceeds the reality of privacy. An
example of the GII diminishing our privacy fol-
lows:2
'It was past midnight when Beverly Dennis
came home, weary from her second-shift factory
job and found a letter with a Texas postmark
among the bills and circulars in the day's mail.
As she read it in her small house in Massillon,
Ohio,
alone in the dark stare of the sliding glass
doors,
her curiosity turned to fear. The letter
was from a stranger who seemed to know all
about her. From her birth date to the names of
her favourite magazines, from the fact that she
was divorced to the kind of soap she used in the
shower. He had woven these details of her pri-
vate life into 12 hand-written pages of intimately
threatening sexual fantasy.
"It can only be in letters at the moment," the
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