At least as a metaphor, “village privacy” is an oxymoron. There is none. That is why people _ especially in Western cultures _ have traditionally run away from small local towns to the fresh start and anonymity of big cities or a frontier.
When everybody knows everything about you, that means you are judged, prejudged, and evaluated with prejudiced awareness of all your previous activities and plans. The past is always with you. You are never free and secrets are impossible.
On the other hand, in a village you are fairly secure from your neighbors. You know who is what and what they are likely to do who is honest or helpful or not. Strangers are the dangers. If such a society is stifling, it can also be remarkably cohesive. That does not, of course, mean such cohesiveness is necessarily good or fun for any given individual.
The reason I mention all this is that we approach a global village status, at least electronically. If you are not known to the increasingly integrated electronic systems, you don’t exist. And existing without electronic recognition is in fact becoming all but impossible
The terrifying truth, for those immersed in Western ideology, is that there may soon be no city nor frontier to which to run for a fresh start. A universal ID solves an awful lot of problems, and it is already de facto embraced by the wealthy and middle class, who cherish their credit cards and internet identities.
And global privacy? Well you know…
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 