Just last week we observed the 67th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy which marked a major turning point in World War II. In many ways, we live in a world that would be unrecognizable to the good folks of 1944. But they would be all too familiar with the sentiments of this video recently produced by the British Ministry of Defense:

Throughout the War, the British government warned family members and servicemen themselves of the dangers of letting sensitive information fall into the wrong hands through casual conversation. “Careless talk costs lives” was the British formulation. On this side of the pond, we said “loose lips sink ships.”

At the Transparency Revolution we unabashedly call for organizations (and society in general) to open up, to empower individuals with the information they need to take control of their own lives and careers, to make the decisions they need to make. But in the words of Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben, “with great power comes great responsibility.”

The need to be careful about what we say — the need to exercise caution around the people with whom we share sensitive information — that’s nothing new. What is new is the power of social media to amplify the risks and potential for damage associated with seemingly the most casual and private of comments.

Ask Anthony Weiner.

We often observe how organizations that are open and that trust their employees stand to gain tremendous benefits in both efficiency and effectiveness, and as a bonus generally have a happier and easier-to-retain workforce. But recognizing those benefits must be accompanied by a realistic assessment of risk and a balancing of what information is distributed through which channel, and when.

Likewise, each of us as individuals must be aware of how easily the content of our messages can, through channels that we think of as perfectly safe, end up in the hands of those whose interests are not our interests, and who may do us considerable harm. This may take the form of exploitation of our own (our our friends’) personal information, loss of competitive advantage for our business or, as the video suggests, much more serious harm.

Those warning from 70 years ago are just as fresh and urgent today as they were when issued. We would do well to heed them.

(Cross-posted from Transparency Revolution.)