Facebook brings back an old-fashioned approach to privacy

Not so long ago, our family, neighbours and work colleagues knew our lives well. Facebook is returning us to that kind of state

Yesterday, Facebook launched Facebook Deals in the UK, a new scheme that rewards consumers if they "check in" to a shop or restaurant in the real world. The "check in" is shared with friends and Facebook and reveals to the company even more about the way its users live their lives. Some are concerned that Facebook is changing our concept of privacy, but I think we're actually returning to the privacy familiar to our great-great-grandparents.

Just a few generations ago, most people were born and died in the same place and worked for themselves or for businesses in roughly the same area. Consequently, they knew the people around them – their extended family, their neighbours and their work colleagues – extremely well. Sure some stuff was kept hidden, but in an age before TV, cinema and even mass literacy, there wasn't much to entertain you other than gossip. And living and working in the same place forever made it pretty hard to reinvent yourself.