Twenty years ago, a discussion about privacy would have barely included the Internet. Ten years ago, it would have barely included social media.

Now the issue of privacy is facing even more challenging questions thanks to tools like Meerkat, which works a bit like a cross between Snapchat and Twitch.tv. Users livestream video from their mobile devices to viewers who can only watch it as it happens with “no reruns.”

Obviously, the person streaming with Meerkat is aware that their content is being watched, but what about the other people they are around? What sort of consent, if any, should non-participants be required to give? And while a tool like Meerkat could be used for plenty of fun or meaningful purposes, it also has the potential for abuse in any number of situations.

New technologies like Meerkat arrive every year that completely change the dynamic of privacy, disrupting not only the users and businesses it affects, but also the governmental agencies dedicated to regulating it. The conversation on privacy for the last few years has been dominated by the question of who controls the data shared by people on social media, but with features like Facebook’s photo tags or apps like Meerkat, that discussion is shifting toward the question of what other people can share about us without our consent.

With Twitter Inc’s recent purchase of Periscope, those privacy concerns are now Twitter’s concerns, along with all of the regulatory baggage that could potentially come with them.

In a recent SXSW Interactive panel discussing privacy with the top privacy officers of Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, J Trevor Hughes of The International Association of Privacy Professionals talked about the challenge of regulating privacy in new tech.

“The issue of privacy is incredibly complex,” Hughes said. “Regulation will continue to fail to keep up. There is a gap between regulation and technology, and there are a lot of complex issues within that gap.”

Hughes specifically pointed to privacy regulations in the European Union, which had been created in a time before social media or smartphones. New legislation has been on the table in the E.U. court for some time now, but by the time it makes its way into law, it may already be obsolete.

photo credit: System Lock via photopin (license)