Privacy in Media Life

Discussion Primer

Ryland Sherman

Hunter Moore: “The Most Hated Man on The Internet”

One story that represents the best and the worst of ‘Privacy’:

Revenge porn

Some background:

• Sexting

• Fun private use

of recording tech

“The Most Hated Man on The Internet”

Hunter Moore and IsAnyoneUp

•His attitude and basic actions

• Cultivated fandom through other social media like Twitter and Tumblr.

• The money he’s made and the lives he’s ruined

•Why he wasn’t stopped sooner

•How he has gradually been shut down

“Privacy is something which has emerged out of the urban boom coming from the industrial revolution. […]

Privacy may actually be an anomaly.”

- Dr. Cerf, Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist and a lead engineer on the Army’s early 1970′s Internet prototype, ARPANET.

The Concept of Privacy

•Throughout history, privacy has largely been determined by community norms.

•However, media technologies have constantly required that we reexamine our community and legal standards.

From a legal perspective, there are two general legal areas.

•Privacy rights between individuals and the government.

•Privacy rights between individuals.

• But . . . .

Privacy Rights between the Gov’t and you. (USA)

Largely Constitutional protections from illegal invasions.

• 4Th Amendment - (Privacy of the Person and Possessions)

• The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, […] describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Yeah, so what does that mean? It’s always been a challenge. cars, phones, computers, and now, portable devices and the web.

14th Amendment – (Substantive due process)

• No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

• Roe v. Wade (1973) a right to privacy and liberty extended to women’s health concerns like abortion decisions, balanced against the States’ concerns for the fetus.

• Laurence v. Texas (2003) a right to sexual privacy and liberty in the home, overturning states’ sodomy laws that were used to discriminate against the LGBT community

Privacy between Individuals: TortsAs time progressed, the different laws of different states began to fit a pattern, even if they often evolved separately, and legal scholars began to identify that pattern.

• publicity placing a person in a false light (libel/slander)

•misappropriation of the image of another (right of publicity)

• publicity given to private facts

• intrusion upon the seclusion of another

Consider their interrelationship with co-evolving media technologies.

Back to Privacy between Individuals: Torts

• publicity placing a person in a false light (libel/slander)

•misappropriation of the image of another (right of publicity)

• publicity given to private facts

• intrusion upon the seclusion of another

There is a natural tension between them and

The 1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble […].

• publicity given to private facts

• intrusion upon the seclusion of another

There is also a natural tension between them

and the idea of what a public space really is.

Where do you have

expectations of privacy

in the physical world?

the idea of what a public space really is

• publicity given to private facts

• intrusion upon the seclusion of another

Where do you have expectations of privacy in the media world?

• Have you ever ‘Google’d yourself?

• When do you ‘Google’ others?

• Should a single news-worthy act be a permanent visible tattoo

on your digital identity?

If we’re so dependent upon businesses, they’ll take care of our needs, right?

The "Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line

and not cross it."

- Google Chairman Eric Schmidt 10-1-10 in The Atlantic

If we’re so dependent upon businesses, they’ll take care of our needs, right?

"It's a future where you don't forget

anything…

In this new future you're never lost...

We will know your position down to the foot and down to the inch over time."

- Google Chairman Eric Schmidt at TechCrunch, 9-28-10

On getting caught on Google Street View:

"With Street View, we drive by exactly once,

so you can just move.“

- Eric Schmidt

2010http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2010/10/25/ps.google.schmidt.ceo.cnn.html

“No harm, no foul.”

- Eric Schmidt told the Times of London in May 2010

In response to Google's unauthorized collection of Wi-Fi signals from tens of millions of homes in 33 countries over 3 years.

"Show us 14 photos of yourself and

we can identify who you are"

- Eric Schmidt told the 2010 Techonomy conference.

"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

- Eric Schmidt told CNBC's Maria Bartiromo 12-7-09

Privacy in Special Industries

•Healthcare

• For ex., HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act)

• Banks, Accounting, Finance, and Debt Collection

• Education

Various other services . . .

So much of the Privacy challenge lies in all of us

Is it getting better or worse?

We’ve already talked a great deal about the role smartphones have played in many different instances.

• Russian car cameras . . .

•What is a “Glasshole?”

Wait, ARE we living in The Truman Show?

Remember the Panopticon concept?