Technology has been a big boon – it has democratised the world and made the world flat with equal opportunities for more people around the world than was possible earlier. Since it makes information available to all without discrimination or bias, there is not much that can be kept out of the public domain. So, transparency borne out of that is not a choice any more – you can no more choose to share information – it gets hijacked into public forums anyway. But technology is now becoming a hydra-headed monster that has just whetted our appetite for living vicariously through lives of the rich and the famous. It is like Themis the goddess of justice with scales and a blindfold – she does not make allowances for what could be private, sacred or sacrilegious. With the rise of Social Media, we are now happy to share all with anyone who would care to listen. We are living in an age of millions of celebrities with our own home pages and our pictures and a litany of our hobbies and activities and our very own cult followings. Before we go too far down that path, we better brace ourselves for possible outcomes of our actions.
Path to Celebritydom is not for the faint hearted – think of phone hackings, photographs of unguarded moments, emails that you thought no one other than the receiver will ever see. Think Jimmy Saville, Lance Armstrong, Kate Middleton, Kate Moss and our very own rich and infamous.