This weekend I had the opportunity to watch a documentary about one of the most famous  internet pioneers you've (or I've) never heard of. We Live in Public directed by Ondi Timoner, chronicles the life and times of Josh Harris, an eccentric, sometimes brilliant, ex dot com millionaire.  

Throughout the 90's, Harris started Psuedo.com, and internet TV station that merged "streaming" video and chat to create a new kind of social entertainment. Think of it has YouTube's great grandfather, and remember this was the 90s, so no broadband (56k at best). This was way ahead of it's time, but when the dot com bubble burst, psuedo went with it.
But in 1999 (right before the crash), Harris was kicked out of his own company (with good reasons) and cashed out his stock.  He had millions, and decieded to create a social experiment called "Quiet: We Live in Public".  This was an Orwellian style "Hotel" in the heart of NYC. Imagine living in a place where everything was on camera, and everyone could see anything you were doing at all times. And, I do mean anything (think about that for moment). But, despite the lack of privacy, and voluntary iterrogations, Harris was getting at something:  Here's a quote from the film during the filming of Quiet, what does it make you think of?

"Everything is free except your image. That, we own."

Remember, this is late 1999. Myspace, Facebook, flickr, none of these sites existed yet. Josh Harris saw that this was where the online world was going:  A giant network where our personal information was stored, analyzed, and sold.
While certainly a bizzare experiment (which quickly got out of hand), Quiet was revolutionary. Harris later began to film himself and then girlfriend Tanya Corrin at their home and dubbed the site "We Live in Public". The site, and the relationship, eventually tanked leaving Harris penniless and drowning in debt (so much that he currently lives in Ethiopia to escape his creditors).  

If you have some time, and want to learn about something truly strange that happened right underneath our noses at the turn of the millennium, do pick up a copy of We Live in Public. It may be a bit disterbing at times, but truelly fascinating.  You can find it on the iTunes store for buy or rent.