More transparency is great and all that. But what is the true cost?

Transparency is a buzzword being used more and more these days. It implies openness, communication and accountability — all very important things when it comes to ensuring business and society function in the correct way. As more scandals and corruption cases leak, we push for greater transparency to hold to account those rogue leaders, companies and even governments.

We’re also seeing more and more dilution of privacy in our own lives, for the ‘greater good’.

What’s the price to pay for this level of transparency across the board?

One of my all-time favourite movies is Seven, starring Morgan Freeman (who plays Detective Somerset) and Brad Pitt (Detective Mills). I always found the seven deadly sins fascinating, and it’s just a very clever, slick film with a great twist at the end.

It was made way back in the mid-’90s, before the internet was this omnipresent beast in our lives.

There’s a scene that always sticks out for me, when trying to understand how far society has come in just 25 years. On this case, the two detectives reach a standstill, so they’re waiting around, bored.

The experienced Somerset, looking at how frustrated and impatient Mills is getting, suggests a field trip to the library where they compile a list. After the library, they meet a mysterious man in a diner, hand over an envelope of money to him and he says a time frame to them. And he also says due…