P2 Context

Safeguarding Privacy in a New World of Hyper Surveillance

According to wikipedia.org, which is constructed by the voice of the people, Net Neutrality is defined as “a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached on the modes of communication, where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams.”

Breaking down and analyzing this context of this quote is the fundamental basis of our video research podcast. Many large companies are data mining information about consumers and selling it off to other companies for mass profits. Such information consists of personal addresses, contact addresses, consumer purchases, and much more. All this data created and sold for what? Companies want market data to analyze and predict consumer trends.

Are companies safeguarding the data they are collecting or are they exploiting them to other firms globally? What about the thought of companies knowing more about you than you know about yourself?

It is easy for companies to data mine behind our backs since they hold all the keys. In exchange for offering ‘free’ services (We say ‘free’ because there is an opportunity cost), we must forgo personal information. Some individuals are unaware of what the consequences are. May we refresh your memory of telemarketers. Using a contest form as an example; Before the internet, one would have to fill out a sheet in which you place your name, address, and phone number. After the contest is done, this information is sold off to telemarketing companies, which in turn call your house or send ads in your mail. Similarly today, filling out online contests forms or downloading software that requires some sort of registration is collected, organized, and marketed off to other companies-Which coincidentally, your new e-mail inbox is later cluttered by advertisements and viruses. This example is minimal compared to the power these companies have with this information.

The real question we, as users, are faced with is, how much is too much is too much before our identities are completely lost in translation over the internet by money hungry fascist corporations? Our time to act is now.


Works Cited
Amazon. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://380ne.com/logos/amazon.jpg".

Blogger User Terms. Blogger. 1 Apr. 2008 "www.blogger.com".

Dollar Sign. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/delta/departments/Family_studies/FS/Images/Dollar%20Sign%203.jpg".

Ebay Logo. 1 Apr. 2008 "p://www.xtour.at/ebay_logo.jpg".

Facebook User Terms. Facebook. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://www.facebook.com/terms.php".

Free Money. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ltkNlM6ofrE".

Google Logo. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9zkWh3ktrn8/R1FpIO__AaI/AAAAAAAABf4/zyVEqQrX7Ac/s1600-R/google_logo.jpg".

Hmmm. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=TmzuSeCIEEI".

Lithgrow, Michael. "Net Neutrality in Canada Under Siege: Bell Implements “Traffic Shaping” Service to Throttle Internet Access." 31 Mar. 2008. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://artthreat.net/2008/03/net-neutrality-canada-under-si".

Mel's Video Blog #1: Flight of the Conchords (HBO). 1 Apr. 2008 "http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=tyTM9hG9ePM".

"Net Neutrality in Canada." The It Nerd. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://itnerd.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/net-neutrality-in-canada-the-debate-starts-now/".

"Net Neutrality." Wikipedia. 1 Apr. 2008 "www.wikepedia.com".

Pak, Tony. "http://www.yorku.ca/dapina/lw2970/ip/?p=185." Osgoode Law School (York). 1 Apr. 2008 "The beginning of the end of net neutrality?".

Piere Intro. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=BQnj6SN3OaA".

Privacy Google Agreement. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS".

Rogers Logo. "http://www.telephonestogo.ca/images/rogers_logo.gif".

Sorensen, Chris. "TheStar.Com | Business | Rogers Website Messages Irk Google." The Toronto Star 29 Mar. 2008. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/284761".

Tim Berners Lee. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://www.edht.org.uk/Images/people/TimBerners-Lee1.jpg".

Yahoo User Agreement. 1 Apr. 2008 "http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos".

P2: Privacy and Hypersurveillance

Team name: The A-Team
Team members: Clarianne Asuncion, James Purdy, Mark Shannon, Victoria Wighton

Week 11 - Digital Innovation

Week 6 - Project 2 Proposal

Introduction
The concept of the video will be the notion of hyper-surveillance, with a specific focus on the issue of privacy. Other areas of discussion will include references to Legislation, the Bill of Rights, and the current-day similarities to George Orwell's 1984.

Concept
The video podcast will focus on how privacy is infringed upon in many areas of one's daily life and activities. Throughout the course of our research for this podcast, as well as in the presentation of the podcast itself, we intend to answer the following question regarding surveillance and breaches of privacy: How far is too far? Our intention is to convey the concerns and precautions that one must take when it comes to their personal privacy, not only online, but with any technologically related medium. An important issue is that in today's surveillance society, one is constantly being watched, but if we are doing nothing wrong, then should there be a reason to worry? Nearly all of the technologies in today’s society consequently also have methods of surveillance. Cellular phone conversations can be overheard, instant messaging conversations are routinely archived, and built in webcams on personal laptop computers can be controlled remotely. The methods by which our actions can be recorded are endless, and it is our goal through the video podcast to bring attention to these methods.

Also, corporations such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft often take great lengths to obtain our personal information, but what guarantees do we have that this information is dealt with accordingly? It may be possible that Facebook sells our information (such as who we talk to, our relationship status, etc) to advertising companies. Google always crawls the web to capture any information it can, but just how powerful are their web crawlers? Microsoft requires personal information for most installations, and with the introduction of ActiveX, are there any more barriers to that information? These topics as well will be covered by our video podcast.

Research Approach
The basis of our research will involve a combination of field research and a variety of conventional research to further support our arguments. We will include live interviews with random subjects and incorporate supporting evidence from scholarly journals and other personal blogs or video podcasts to show opposing views about the issue. Some of the video podcast we will be using will be taken from www.current.com. One of the main articles that we will focus on is “public surveillance functions of private security” (http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/articles2%284%29/private.pdf) by Alison Wakefield. We would also be looking at different articles on the infringement of privacy involving internet. Lastly, we would also assess different major corporations and their methods of gathering data.

Treatment
The podcast will incorporate a hit television show ‘24’ type theme, where multiple segments of events are happening at once during a specific duration. The camera will play a neutral roll, capturing our interaction with each other. Many shots will be filmed from the shoulder to not only capture dramatics, but also carry good audio quality. The type of atmosphere we are trying to generate would be action pact and adventurous to draw the attention of the audience as well as keeping it formal to come off as factual.

Our footage would contain research that will be placed in dialogue, which is backed up by visual aids. Interviews of individuals as well as other extended metaphors will be placed to further emphasis our story. Much effort will be placed on ‘what makes a good blog’ by including comic relief and emotion.

Week 5

Team name: The A-Team
Team members: Clarianne Asuncion, James Purdy, Mark Shannon, Victoria Wighton

The initial concept for our video podcast is regarding Google and its relation to privacy in the online world. Features such as Google Analytics and Googlebots pry into the darkest corners of a website, and quite possibly, password protected information such as bank accounts and secure web sites.

Also, we will speak about privacy in regard to other applications which have yet to be determined, but may include cell phone conversations and ATMs.

Week 4 - My favourite video blog

Ask A Ninja

Askaninja.com is a comedic video podcast that portrays a man dressed as a ninja who discusses various areas of interest.

Through his video podcast, the ninja goes through a variety of topics each week. There is no specific theme to what he chooses to discuss, however, the way his podcast is filmed is very unique. Instead of one long video clip of himself, a series of short clips are placed together to create a choppy, but well-crafted video segment. Regardless of what the topic of discussion is, the ninja summarizes his thoughts and perceptions of the topics and gets straight to the point of what they are about.

The ninja mainly discusses subjects of a less serious nature, but on occasion will argue topics such as global warming or even net neutrality, however, he spins a comedic twist on them and makes the subjects easier to watch. By using light-hearted subject matter he captivates the audience. Using comedy as a blogging technique, he is able to reach an assortment of viewers. The majority of the content can be considered as fluff, but the use of sarcasm catches the attention of people of all ages. Also, each video is no longer than 3 minutes long, which allows for a more concise summary of his proposed topic, and is appealing to those whose attention spans are not very long.

The short, choppy editing technique catches the attention of the viewer and allows for a more interesting post because there is constantly some sort of action going on, rather than continuous and therefore monotonous dialogue, which can become boring after a while. The whole point of video blogs is to captivate the audience, while conveying a message or some sort of information. The content of the Ask a Ninja's actual videos are often not valuable because of the aim of the blog is to entertain, rather than inform, however, he does open up several topics that would be worth examining further, even on a more serious note.

Week 3 - My Video blog

Web 2.0 and Podcasting: Where is this heading?

Since the development of the Web 2.0 theory, created by Tim O'Reilly, the Internet has taken on certain qualities that can be described as a second generation of the web. More and more web-based communities are being developed which include social-networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, as well as thousands of blogs created by any average user of the web. Through these types of websites, people are able to use their creativity to create and share information with other users. While this may appear to be a beneficial use of networking, there are potential downsides to it.

Sharing one's thoughts and feelings via the various means of communication of the web, including blogs and Podcasting, has become increasingly popular over the past few years. Sites such as Youtube have members posting videos daily, sharing various aspects of their lives such as likes and dislikes, or even sharing their feelings with complete strangers. This issue of privacy is a little unsettling. Although these types of technology connect us with people from parts of the world that used to be inaccessible, there are also people watching these videos at the same time who you may not want watching. Privacy settings can be adjusted, however, it is difficult to completely aware of who it is observing and reading into you.

There are many perks to the Web 2.0 concept. The more software development and programming that is done, the faster the Internet can progress, making the world even more accessible to the average person. One should really be careful about what they choose to share with the world though, because someone will always be watching.

My Blog Review of Postsecret.com

Blogs can vary in many different aspects. Sometimes it's even hard to classify what genre a blog may be a part of. Millions of blogs are active all over the Internet at any given time, and there are many we choose to read and be a part of for various reasons. One of my favourite blogs is a site called Postsecret.com.

Postsecret was started by a man named Frank Warren, who gave out 3,000 self-addressed postcards and asked people to write their secrets on them and send them back to him anonymously. Little did he know he would receive thousands upon thousands of postcards, with secrets of all sorts written on them.

This type of blog easily connects with its readers. With such a broad spectrum of secrets that are displayed each week, there is no single topic for discussion. The readers can comment on the postcards and create threads on the discussion boards. The main page simply laid out, making it easy to read. It contains the pictures of the postcards which draws in the readers' attention. Although it is only updated once a week, the secrets, written so creatively on the postcards, let the reader reflect on their own lives. Sometimes even if they have not sent in a secret, they can see they share the same secrets as other people. The blog inspires hope and allows people in this world being separated by the growing distance in social interaction to remind themselves that they are truly not alone.

*Pictures taken directly from Postsecret.com*

What is the biggest issue facing blogging, citizenship and the future of media?

There are millions of people blogging everyday. Each person expresses their opinions and shares them with anyone else willing to read what they have to say. Sometimes it seems like having such an enormous wealth of free-flowing information can be a bad thing. Not everyone in this world has the right intentions, and we are greeted almost every time we log onto the Internet with ads and propaganda from a million other sites that exist out there about sex, gambling, and profit making. There are some good qualities that do come with blogging, whether it be in type, audio or video. I use the example from a while back when there were several cases of extreme bullying and fighting going on in schools. Students would videotape the fights and post them on You Tube for peoples' viewing "pleasure". In order to catch the individuals who were taking part in these fights, the OPP also placed copies of the videos on their own file on You Tube and asked anyone who viewed them if they could identify those in the videos. Within days the individuals were caught and charged. Using the help of the public, blogs can help bring justice to society. They may not work in every single case, but they are a good start to bringing back that sense of community that evidently still does exist in a vast world of millions.