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Tag Archives: Surveillance
Constant surveillance of our lives
There is constant surveillance of our lives. Whether you’re walking down the street, making a phone call or sitting behind a computer, there is always someone watching or recording our moves. As I attempted to find a video clip showing the constant surveillance of our everyday lives, I stumbled upon a website called earthcam.com. As if the constant surveillance and cameras throughout the city for the purpose of terrorist threats and what is claimed to be for our protection isn’t enough. Surveillance is being watched over to protect and enforce social control of criminal activities and most recently to monitor for terrorist activities.
Now not only think about what you put out on the internet but what about the things you don’t put on the internet? Like the cameras watching you at the intersection of Christopher Street and 7th avenue streaming to the people at home on their computers on the website cnyclive.com. The people at home get to watch you at that intersection and the surrounding store with the power to control the direction of the camera and even zoom in.
An article from 2001 on the wired.com mentioned websites such as beer (dot) com, which is not currently a valid URL. This site allowed people at home to watch what was happening at participating bars online. Bar owners claimed that it allowed their usual customers to see if other frequent customers were at the bar. Some bars didn’t even notify the customers at the bar that their actions were being streamed live over the bars webcam.
Websites such as cnyclive.com and beer (dot) com make us aware to the fact that we may not know when we are being watched so we constantly have to be surveilling ourselves. The idea of the panopticon now becomes a major part of our life. The idea that you are constantly being surveilled causes you to be self disciplined. These websites should also raise questions as to what should and shouldn’t be private. Though we may not be partaking in private actions in the street, does that mean its okay for it to be broadcasted throughout the world?
Facebook = The New Josh Harris?
After watching the 2009 documentary We Live in Public in class, I’ve been trying to be more wary of my privacy settings on various social media outlets. You could probably say I have some weird form of techie OCD when it comes to Facebook; about once a week, I check my privacy settings and friend lists (along with profile and photo album visibility regarding said lists) just to make sure everyone is seeing what I want them to see. On this particular day of appeasing my techie OCD, I came across a strange discovery.
If you have a Facebook account, do the following and tell me you don’t feel like Mark Zuckerberg (*cough* Josh Harris *cough*) is hoarding your internet activity to use at a later time. Go to:
Facebook > Account > Account Settings > Download Your Information (Learn More)
Granted, I wasn’t surprised that Facebook had just weaseled this option in there without any sort of warning or notification (it’s about as common as waking up and seeing your profile layout completely changed for the fifth time), but you have to admit, the idea that Facebook has every wall post, photo album, video, friend on your list, note, event listing, and message thread neatly converted into .html format and then compressed into a huge .zip file is a little strange, to say the least.
After I told Facebook that I wanted to download my information, it took almost a whole day to receive a confirmation e-mail with the link to download MY OWN INFORMATION.
Granted, although it creeped me out a little bit to see everything organized like that, I was actually relieved that this folder didn’t also include everything I had ever posted or written on other people’s profiles. However, you know that the instant someone decides to download their information, any comment or post I had put on their profile will be saved forever for them to see.
After raising an eyebrow at Facebook for 40 minutes as I downloaded my internet life in a .zip file, I began to wonder, “What would make Facebook want to do this?” Other than the rare occasion that eeeeeevery single server for Facebook crashes beyond repair and people lose their files forever, I have a very strange feeling that one day we’re going to have the choice (or necessity) to buy this seemingly useless collection of data.
Posted in Assignment 1
Tagged Facebook, Josh Harris, Privacy, Surveillance, We Live in Public
1 Comment
Snooping Around
Sites such as Facebook come with the extra perk of enabling us to anonymously take a peek into other people’s affairs. It is my personal opinion that besides satisfying our urge to communicate and socialize with dear friends, it also gives us an ample opportunity to snoop around into our friend’s lives and doings, such as for example; who are our friends’ friends? How close or intimate are they? How fabulous and popular their lives are? Or are they just as miserable and lonely people as we suspected all along…
Contrary to what many may say I believe that social networks such as Facebook, serve for more than just to satisfy the need to “communicate” and stay in touch with friends. According to the article Looking at Friends on Facebook Increases Pleasantness“ it says that “The researchers found that social searching — looking up a friend’s specific profile information, looking through their photos, reading messages from them — is indicative of greater use of the appetitive system.” The snooping around in my opinion has the same if not more of the incentive to visit Facebook. This added perk is hard to resist and in my opinion increases the chances to spend more and more time on line. The excessive thirst to stay on top of other people’s lives may result in situations of self-deterioration. The ease to communicate can facilitate good deeds as it can make it easier to harm others.
The quality of social interaction can impact our lives in ways that we may not even think of. For example; one of my friends, that I must make clear is not me, was not aware that his last girlfriend was sending friend request to all his friends with a photo of a young child, and many accepted without much questioning, since many times you don’t know what your friend looked like what when they were kids, and often we even do not remember their full names, so we may think we know them and say we’ll find out later. Soon enough she had enough people to start rumors and a persisting crusade to create embarrassing situations that spread like a wild fire among friends and friends of friends and somehow I found myself as an unintended channel helping the cunning plot to destroy my friends’ possibilities for a new and healthy relationship. As it turns out, and including me, people like to believe the worst on others, maybe as a measure of our own goodness.
Soon after that ugly episode, I became very suspicious and overcautious and ended up blocking access to my profile, defriending some even if that meant limiting contact and social interaction. The price is just too high to pay, and I for one treasure my serenity and peaceful way of living.
Some may say that this does not happen frequently, and I certainly would agree with it, after all living life to the fullest involves taking chances, but to what extend you’ll go trusting your privacy to a large pool of friends is hard to say. One thing is certain; I am no longer impressed with how popular you are, or how many hundreds of friends you have in your profile. However; I believe that that the more people you include in your profile the more chances for risk or unwanted situations; just keep in mind that every one of those so called “friendships” have your “ number and they can easily do a number on you.
Other people may say, I never accept friend request from anybody that is not my “real” friend then I say good for you. Others may say: that would never happen to me, my friends are the best, and they love me! When I hear that I say to myself I remember when I used to say that and to tell you the truth I honestly believed it; however; one thing is certain and that is when it hits the fan it hits everybody. I remember when I was younger and I was more involved in the friendship socializing hanging out thing, always on the lookout for fun, and when your big mouth got you in trouble, the worst that could’ve happened as nasty rumors spread was that a particular friend would come to you and say while slapping your face “I never did that with you!” and our short term memory put an end to it. Now days whatever you do and whatever anyone says about you, it’s on your permanent record for generations to come.
