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| The Sexts of Jeff Bezos and the Death of Privacy | The Sexts of Jeff Bezos and the Death of Privacy |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| It turns out that internet zillionaires are just as awkward as the rest of us when it comes to romantic text messages. | It turns out that internet zillionaires are just as awkward as the rest of us when it comes to romantic text messages. |
| “You know what I want? I want to get a little drunk with you tonight,” Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, wrote in a text message to the television personality Lauren Sanchez. “Not falling down. Just a little drunk. I want to talk to you and plan with you. Listen and laugh.” | “You know what I want? I want to get a little drunk with you tonight,” Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, wrote in a text message to the television personality Lauren Sanchez. “Not falling down. Just a little drunk. I want to talk to you and plan with you. Listen and laugh.” |
| Last week The National Enquirer — of course, it had to be the Trump-water-boy publication that did the dirty deed — unveiled the leaked texts, and the particulars of a new relationship Mr. Bezos was having in the wake of the end of his 25-year marriage to MacKenzie Bezos. | Last week The National Enquirer — of course, it had to be the Trump-water-boy publication that did the dirty deed — unveiled the leaked texts, and the particulars of a new relationship Mr. Bezos was having in the wake of the end of his 25-year marriage to MacKenzie Bezos. |
| Along with lurid reporting, which mentioned some steamy photos, The Enquirer released many of Mr. Bezos’s messages for all the world to see. | |
| “I love you, alive girl,” he texted, prompting a Twitter meme competition about what exactly that meant. (I still don’t know.) | “I love you, alive girl,” he texted, prompting a Twitter meme competition about what exactly that meant. (I still don’t know.) |
| “I basically WANT TO BE WITH YOU!!! Then I want to fall asleep with you and wake up tomorrow and read the paper with you and have coffee with you,” he texted. (I, for one, would not have expected him to employ these Trump-style all-caps.) | “I basically WANT TO BE WITH YOU!!! Then I want to fall asleep with you and wake up tomorrow and read the paper with you and have coffee with you,” he texted. (I, for one, would not have expected him to employ these Trump-style all-caps.) |
| “I like it when you’re strong, and I like it when you’re vulnerable. Everything. The only thing I don’t like is not being with you. All of this is just straight from my heart,” read another message. | “I like it when you’re strong, and I like it when you’re vulnerable. Everything. The only thing I don’t like is not being with you. All of this is just straight from my heart,” read another message. |
| So many texts, so many achingly awkward, occasionally robotic, deeply-embarrassing-when-out-of-context messages that unveiled a very addled man in the throes of something. The emotion was so raw that it prompted one jaded tech leader to write me that he wished he could text with that much abandon. | So many texts, so many achingly awkward, occasionally robotic, deeply-embarrassing-when-out-of-context messages that unveiled a very addled man in the throes of something. The emotion was so raw that it prompted one jaded tech leader to write me that he wished he could text with that much abandon. |
| He had another point to make, though: “If the man who wants to put listening devices in everyone’s home doesn’t always know that everyone’s always watching, I don’t know who will,” he wrote — on Signal, natch — alluding to the Amazon Echo device that has had its share of privacy hiccups. If the world’s richest man got got like this, he said, “no one is safe.” | He had another point to make, though: “If the man who wants to put listening devices in everyone’s home doesn’t always know that everyone’s always watching, I don’t know who will,” he wrote — on Signal, natch — alluding to the Amazon Echo device that has had its share of privacy hiccups. If the world’s richest man got got like this, he said, “no one is safe.” |
| If there is one thing that this latest violation of online privacy teaches us, it is that — in the words of Scott McNealy, the chief executive of Sun Microsystems, back in 1999 — “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.” | If there is one thing that this latest violation of online privacy teaches us, it is that — in the words of Scott McNealy, the chief executive of Sun Microsystems, back in 1999 — “You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.” |
| We still haven’t gotten over it, and even in this advanced time of always-on, I’m not sure we should. The sweet nothings that Mr. Bezos was sending to one person should not have turned into tweets for the entire world to see and, worse, that most everyone assumed were O.K. to see. | We still haven’t gotten over it, and even in this advanced time of always-on, I’m not sure we should. The sweet nothings that Mr. Bezos was sending to one person should not have turned into tweets for the entire world to see and, worse, that most everyone assumed were O.K. to see. |
| Some in the media have focused on the possibility that there would be fallout for Amazon from the Bezos divorce, suggesting that Ms. Bezos might seek to control and change the company. I knew them both in the early days of Amazon’s history, a history in which Ms. Bezos was quite present and important. While things can change, I would be utterly surprised by either of them indulging in any acrimony that would hurt the company. But we use this as an excuse to stare at their private lives anyway. | Some in the media have focused on the possibility that there would be fallout for Amazon from the Bezos divorce, suggesting that Ms. Bezos might seek to control and change the company. I knew them both in the early days of Amazon’s history, a history in which Ms. Bezos was quite present and important. While things can change, I would be utterly surprised by either of them indulging in any acrimony that would hurt the company. But we use this as an excuse to stare at their private lives anyway. |
| Obviously, the trend of allowing the outside to see the inside is not a new one — gossip and its tabloid incarnations, as well as tell-alls and all the shabby circuses like it, were skulking around well before the digital age ever dawned. But the trend has accelerated in the last few years, as means of communication have mutated and proliferated. It’s too easy now to forget that at least some of our utterances are not meant for public consumption. | Obviously, the trend of allowing the outside to see the inside is not a new one — gossip and its tabloid incarnations, as well as tell-alls and all the shabby circuses like it, were skulking around well before the digital age ever dawned. But the trend has accelerated in the last few years, as means of communication have mutated and proliferated. It’s too easy now to forget that at least some of our utterances are not meant for public consumption. |
| How were Mr. Bezos’s texts released into the wild? Was his phone hacked? If so, why was he not using encryption? If he did protect his online selfies, did someone somehow get screenshots of them and send them around until one of the recipients dropped a dime to The Enquirer? If so, is anyone safe? | How were Mr. Bezos’s texts released into the wild? Was his phone hacked? If so, why was he not using encryption? If he did protect his online selfies, did someone somehow get screenshots of them and send them around until one of the recipients dropped a dime to The Enquirer? If so, is anyone safe? |
| No, we are not. | No, we are not. |
| Part of the problem is the United States lacks any truly toothy privacy law. We don’t even pretend that we think privacy is something to be protected, and there are no consequences for revealing someone else’s personal foibles made into so much data. | Part of the problem is the United States lacks any truly toothy privacy law. We don’t even pretend that we think privacy is something to be protected, and there are no consequences for revealing someone else’s personal foibles made into so much data. |
| Of course, we also do this to ourselves. Not to blame the victim (and there are plenty of those in this case, including Mr. Bezos), but we choose to put ourselves on display. Post your photos from your vacation to Aruba on the ever-changing wall of the performative museum that is Instagram? Sure! Write a long soliloquy about your fights with neighbors and great-uncles on Facebook? Sign me up! Tweet about a dishwasher mishap with a big box retailer on Twitter? Wait, that’s me. | Of course, we also do this to ourselves. Not to blame the victim (and there are plenty of those in this case, including Mr. Bezos), but we choose to put ourselves on display. Post your photos from your vacation to Aruba on the ever-changing wall of the performative museum that is Instagram? Sure! Write a long soliloquy about your fights with neighbors and great-uncles on Facebook? Sign me up! Tweet about a dishwasher mishap with a big box retailer on Twitter? Wait, that’s me. |
| I think you get my point here. We are both the fodder for and the creators of the noise pollution that is mucking up so much, including the national discourse. That national discourse just gave us Mr. Bezos as one day’s entertainment. | I think you get my point here. We are both the fodder for and the creators of the noise pollution that is mucking up so much, including the national discourse. That national discourse just gave us Mr. Bezos as one day’s entertainment. |
| Are you not entertained? I am, and I am also ashamed. | Are you not entertained? I am, and I am also ashamed. |
| Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter. | Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter. |