Love him or hate him, Julian Assange and his effect on society can’t be overlooked. Today, thanks to fiber optics, private information can be hacked and spread around the world pretty much at the speed of light. Thanks to people like Assange, it doesn’t matter if it’s a government, corporation or individual. Remember the Julian Assange Effect next time you do anything that can be digitally captured or processed.

The Julian Assange Effect basically means true privacy is dead. Especially with the push to digitize all our information. And with his arrest yesterday, I’m sure his trial will bring more to light than the governments desire for a quick prosecution.

Explaining the Julian Assange Effect:

This phenomena was succinctly covered in an article by Nikolaos Panaousis called: Julian Assange: His Impact on Mass Communication and his Ability to Change the World  

Today, Julian Assange is known for possessing a library of more than ten million documents and having published classified documents and cables… Those releases have sparked public outrage, raised concerns and questions about privacy, accountability and transparency… They have led to retaliatory actions from all affected sides…
(1) Assange innovated upon and exploited the news-making process. Establishing partnerships with news organizations and shifting the roles of the journalist in the age of information.
(2) He gained the ability to shape and re-shape global events, governments, corporations, and the public opinion through a strategic communication process based on leaks.
(3) He sparked the flame on public debate about the transparency of information and contributed to an energized movement advocating for government openness, while also pushing many to seek secrecy away from the possibility of being exposed to the public.
(4) His alignment with journalism raised questions whether journalists would be prosecuted for handling leaked information of similar kind.
(5) And, because of the impact of his organization, more organizations that resembled WikiLeaks came into the spotlight — even news networks — with the goal of advancing the ideals that he first established.

How to protect your reputation

Protecting your reputation is important especially when you’re looking for – a new job, trying to advance to the next level, finding a mate, or even raising your children. Like Warren Buffet said: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.

1. There’s no such thing as online privacy: Just do a google search on recent hacks and you’ll see no ones safe. The first step to protecting your reputation is to not post (or do) anything contrary to the way you want others to see you.
2. Someone’s always watching: Online spybots/malware/cookies, computer viruses, hacker’s and hacker collectives, social media/Apps, Email, Wi-Fi, smartphones, street/surveillance camera’s, CCTV, sensors, satellites, and pretty much anytime you buy something… Someone’s watching.
3. Fame doesn’t mean Fortune: Trying to up your profile and be a ‘star’ won’t always equal more money. But it will bring more attention (both good and bad) to every move you make.
4. Don’t underestimate the simple life: New is not always better. Sometimes being up to date just makes life more complicated. Personally, I hate when people use ‘old school’ as a derogatory expression.
5. Beware anything labeled social. Social networking can be great for advancement. But it can also ruin our life. Getting drunk at the company party, posting unflattering pictures or videos online, writing stupid twitter messages, and even attending social events exposes us to the multitudes of smartphone image takers out there. And it only takes once. Just ask Roseanne Barr!

The Julian Assange Effect basically exposed the power of information and how technology has simplified access to pretty much anything. This makes protecting our reputation that much harder. Especially if we keep digitizing and exposing every little thing about our life.