Essay.

Privacy & The Internet

What Lies Beneath?

Kirsten Sadler

The Internet is a tool that much of society in the twenty first century would now not be able to live without. It is hard to think that this revolutionary technology that we use in everyday practices has only been available for general public use since the mid 90’s. Though since then the Internet has taken off it and has never failed to generate innovative, new, experiences and systems, for the ever-growing communities worldwide that live off its very means.

As we all know, the Internet assists us in the everyday means of human life. It allows us to communicate without being in the same room or country as another, it allows us to create revenue and an income, it allows us to follow world news and events and it also allows us to share our lives with others through social networking.

Social Networking is a large part of the Internet today. There are thousands upon thousands of countless social networking sites that feed off the use of people’s desires to communicate. Boyd and Ellison, authors of, ‘Social Networking sites: Definition, History and Scholarship’ state that social networking sites, ‘ have attracted millions of users, many of whom integrate these sites into their daily practices.’ Although using these social networking sites daily seems perfectly safe to many users this can prove to be a different story.

In the recent outburst of social networking popularity, many concerns have been raised in relation to the amounts of privacy that social networking sites uphold. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace have come under speculation for not providing adequate privacy settings for its users. This has amounted in many controversial stories including suicide, Internet bullying, hacking and spamming. So, just how easy is it to become a victim of the failed privacy laws of social networking?

Earlier this year a debacle concerning Facebook privacy settings occurred, where over 171 Million Facebook accounts were uploaded into a single torrent for illegal downloading over the Internet. Ultimately Facebook’s public profile directory, containing millions of Facebook user’s profile information was scanned and made available to anyone over the Internet. According to Ian Paul’s article, ‘The Facebook Data Torrent Debacle’ 2923 people have downloaded the file since its release and another 9473 people are actively downloading it today. With occurrences like these happening users of social networking sites should be questioning their privacy. Though a recent study from the Centre of Applied Research states that specifically ‘students are unaware of the actual audience viewing of their information.’ Whilst privacy is a contentious issue for adult aged users it is a miniscule concern for young adults and teenagers.

It is no secret that since the Internet has become universally popular among school aged children and young adults, especially in relation to the use of social networking sites. Since the use of social networking sites has skyrocketed over the past couple of years, it has made way for new forms of bulling, this includes Internet bulling, and hacking and spamming of individuals account information and exploitation of people’s private details.

In September of this year, eighteen-year-old Tyler Clementi committed suicide after a video of him being intimate with another male was released on the Internet. His fellow roommates recorded the event on a webcam and later uploaded it to the social networking site, Youtube. Clementi was unaware the event was being recorded and had not came out about his sexuality to his fellow college colleges. Ultimately, Tyler Clementi was a victim of Internet bullying and his personal information was wrongly exploited. The incident makes aware how easy it is for anyone to upload unauthorized material onto social networking sites.

Incidents like Tyler Clementi’s represent the danger of social networking sites and the lack of privacy that they withhold. The fact that the video could be uploaded without the consent of Tyler and without any obligation in relation to Youtube’s privacy settings is why much of society are now questioning the safety of social networking sites.

In regards to Facebook’s policy, it states that, ‘You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. Although if the information is covered by Intellectual Property Rights, you give Facebook, ‘permission to your privacy and application settings: you grant a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook."

These Privacy settings set by Facebook are similar amongst many social networking sites. There are millions of users of social networking sites, the question is, how many would have actually read and understood the privacy laws and settings? A study by Michele Ybarra and Kimberly Mitchell states that, 33 percent of youth who use social networking sites have reported online harassment. (Ybarra, Michele, Kimberly, Mitchell 2007, p. 2) With eighteen percent of social networking site users being teenagers (Royal Pingdom, 2010) the risks they face with Pedophiles, identity theft, bullying and unethical distribution of private information is a major growing concern.

Privacy is such a contentious issue amongst Internet users and more largely users of social networking sites as the protection they use is inadequate to what the standards of privacy should be on the Internet. As the Internet increasingly expands, so does the amount of predators seeking private information of millions of Web users. As long as social networking sites such a Facebook and Youtube allow for distribution of individuals private content the concerns surrounding those of privacy and the Internet will remain.

For every user of Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Youtube comes the chance that they too will become a victim of incidents such as the Facebook Torrent Download and with the increasingly easy methods of the sharing of information over the internet comes the story of those like Tyler Clementi, victim of the failed privacy laws of social networking.

References:

Boyd Danah, Ellison Nicole 2008, ‘Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship’, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-10

‘The Facebook Data Torrent Debacle’, PC World, 30 July. 2010, p. 1. Retrieved 16 October 2010 from PC World Today

Rutgers Student Suicide 2010, ‘Huffington Post’ 29 September. 2010, p.1. Retrieved 16 October 2010 from The Huffington Post

Facebook: Facebook Privacy Policy 2010, information concerning the Privacy content of Facebook, viewed 17 October 2010, http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

Ellison, N 2008, ‘Social Networking Sites 6’, Retrieved 17 October from Centre of Applied Research

Ybarra, Michele & Mitchell, Kimberly 2007, ‘How Risky Are Social Networking Sites? A Comparison of Places Online Where Youth Sexual Solicitation and Harassment Occurs’, vol. 121, no.2, pp.350-352. Retrieved October 19^th, 2010 from Official Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics.

URLS:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/full

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202167/the_facebook_data_torrent_debacle_qanda.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/dharun-revi-molly-wei-charged_n_743539.html

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2007-0693v1

http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/R%20Internet%20Ellison%20(2008)%20-%20Social%20networking%20sites.pdf

Week 10: Evaluation

Overall I think the course was interesting. I have gained lots of knowledge of communication technologies and the way they influence today's society.

In relation to the blogs, I found that they were a great way to go over notes and lectures again, helping to gain information and further understanding of what was presented at the start of each week. Although, I did find the blogs to be very time consuming, they were inevitably effective in increasing research and understanding of content.

As for the lectures, on the most part they were informative and very organised. Though sometimes it was hard to grab some concepts of computer technology and theories, the lectures were made exciting with media examples and powerpoint presentations that helped with the understanding of certain topics.

In summery, I believe New Communication Technologies to be a successful subject in representing the understanding of technology and communication technologies in modern society.

Week 9: Essay Question

My chosen essay question is question 3.

Why is privacy such a contentious issue for internet users? Discuss with reference to at least ONE social network service (or other web2.0 service).

Research and Essay Plan:

My essay will focus on incidents in which individuals have been affected by lack of internet privacy.

This includes suicide, bullying, hacking, spamming and distribution of peoples personal information.

In addition I will also research the rights of social networking site in conjunction with the sharing of personal information.

Week 9: Cyberpunk & William Gibson

Week 9's lecture was a follow on from week 8.

This week the topic was on cyberpunk and one of Cyberpunks most famously known writers, William Gibson.

First of all, what is cyberpunk?

Cyberpunk can be described as a social and political theory that explores and studies urban society, cultural theories and sociology of the future. Cyberpunk revolves around the notion that world will become a technological dystopian age in the near future.

Who is William Gibson?

William Gibson is the face of Cyberpunk, having written an amounting number of books Gibson's career is focused on many notions of the science fiction sub-genre.

Gibson's first short story, 'Burning Chrome' in fact created the notion of cyberspace.

His most recognised work though would be his book, 'Neuromancer' written in 1984 that expands on the notions represented in, 'Burning Chrome.'

Gibson's works to be seem like they would present some interesting concepts, although I believe they would appeal mostly to individuals interested in science fiction.

As for the notions and theories for Cyberpunk, I think are more universal. In my opinion I think that the theories of the fusion of man and machine and the world as a technological dystopian future are both interesting and questionable, as anything seems possible with technology in this age.

Week 8: Tutespark Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk: Fusion of Man and Machine.

Combining of 1999 film Bicentennial Man and the article 'Intuitive Human-Machine-Interaction and Implementation of a Household Robot Companion.'

Service robots or robot companions that interact with humans require a special form of Human-Machine-Interaction (HMI).

Based on a typical household scenario, we have developed a framework for integrating several human-robot modalities into one robot system, the NBR 114.

We see our robot, The NBR 114 being useful in typical household scenarios.

The robot observes the human during his movements and ac- quires the information necessary for repeating this task.

After the initial learning phase the robot is asked to repeat the task several times for a complete table of e. g. six place settings. By analysing this scenario we have chosen the following HRI com- ponents for implementation and integration into our robot system: Speech Input / Out- put, Gesture Recognition and Remote Control. Additional components are the “tradi- tional” functionalities of mobile robots like navigation, manipulation, object recognition and the like. While a remote control is not necessarily needed for the sce- nario above, our robot integrated into a household environment also incorporates control of the house itself. It can be considered as a household appliance, designed to serve humans.

We chose reliable, working implementations of the components of The NBR 114 listed, adapted to our special needs of service robotics. Our focus is on the development of an integration household robotic appliance.

http://www.service-robotik-initiative.de/download/publicationen/IPA/Parlitz-Intuitive_HMI-final070213.pdf

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182789/

Week 8: Virtual Philosophy and Cyberpunk

Week 8’s lecture was focused on the topic of virtual philosophy.

Virtual Philosophy, I found was a hard concept to understand. Though it can be explained as the links between humanities dependence on technology and the ability to tell the difference from what is real and what is not.

Interestingly, Virtual Philosophy and the theories of cyberpunk coincide.

To elaborate, the study of virtual philosophy also deals with the concept of humanities dependence on technology in the future and how machines may dominate the way we live, in centuries to come.

In addition, the idea of virtual philosophy plays with the concept of the fusion of man and machine, the creation of a technological dystopian future and the idea that one corporation will govern society, much like the theories of cyberpunk.

Most likely the most famous movie that deals with the concept of virtual Philosophy is The Matrix. The Matrix represents the theories of the fusion of man and machine and the idea of a technological dystopian future.

Although the Matrix might be the most successful cyberpunk, there are thousands more books, movies, websites and videos that deal with the ideas of virtual philosophy.

Week 7: Creative Commons & Open Source Software

Week 7's lecture on Creative Commons and Open Source Software, was a follow on from week 6 and the discussion of ownership rights over the internet.

The main idea of the lecture was to research the variations of Copyright laws on the Internet and to gain an understanding of these laws in relation to material that individuals view, manipulate and create specifically for the web.

Many people have heard of Copyright laws and regulations, but what about other licences that allow the general public access and manipulate content freely. Yes, there are such laws and these are known as Creative Commons and Public Domain licences.

Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation that, 'makes available standard licences and tools that enable creators to make their works available on more flexible terms.'

Initially this means that any work on the internet that lies under a creative commons licence, in certain terms, can have its content used again, manipulated or expanded by others. In other words, compared to a Copyright Licence a Creative Commons licence has 'some rights reserved' as opposed to 'All rights reserved'

Following the Creative Commons licensing is Public Domain content. Content that comes under Public Domain is not covered by intellectual property rights, which means its content can be manipulated and recreated without breaking or coming under any laws or reserved rights.

Where did Creative Commons initiate?

Creative Commons and the relaxing of copyright laws came from the Free Software Movement.

The Free Software Movement is a movement that was created by Richard M Stallman, which allows individuals the freedom to copy, study and improve software.

Stallman founder and creator of the Free Software Foundation had a goal and this goal was to provide 'A completely free Unix-like operating system made totally from free software.'

This free software was allowed for sharing and changing of software codes in order to improve program reliability and succ

essfulness. Thus, open source programs were born.

In addition, this movement and creation of open source software comes under 3 principles.

0: The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.

1: The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs.

2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour.

3: The freedom to improve the program, and to release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.

What is Open Source Software?

Open Source Software is initially 'free software'.

Open Source software is usually created due to lack of interest or successfulness of propriety software programs. For example Internet Explorer is a propriety software program, it's Open Source software competitor is Firefox, a free internet browsing system.

The difference between Open Source Software and Propriety software is that Propriety software's contents is disclosed and not available to the general public. Whereas, Open Source Software is openly available to the public and unlike Propriety software the source code is freely shared.

In conclusion, without the introduction of Creative Common licensing and Open Source Software, the ability for individuals to have a choice, to share and to collaborate would not exist in the world of the World Wide Web and computer based age we live in, in society today.