Is Big Brother Watching?
As with other increasingly complex concepts, privacy is one that has many nuanced meanings. That is, the more we experience issues of privacy, and are forced to create our own boundaries of public and private, a sliding scale of acceptability emerges for us individually. Then, we have to mix in those personal expectations of privacy, and reconcile them with third-party definitions and policies of privacy.
Everyone needs a privacy policy these days.
And it makes sense to a certain degree, but ultimately I wonder, does any ever actually read privacy policies? And if they do pay attention to such things, could a bad privacy policy change a consumers mind about using the product? I also wonder, to what extent do we value our privacy? Sure, when people think that their privacy has been violated, it is a big deal… but we sign over our rights to privacy on a daily basis. Especially those of us who are heavily engaged with the internet.
Last month, in an editorial piece on CNN, Pete Cashmore (a social media consultant) boldly stated that, “Privacy is dead, and social media is holding the smoking gun.” He gets into the nuts and bolts of why people embed themselves in these digital networks. He speaks of the “attention economy” and the notion that a public life is a successful one. The more public you are, the more capital you will earn. An interesting notion, and probably not too far from the truth.
By engaging in the participatory infrastructure of Cyberspace, we record and post our lives, for all to see and analyse. Even when we are clever and set up our privacy controls so that our “work friends” can’t invade our personal profiles, all of our online activity is continually fed into a massive stream of data which I imagine looks something like the Matrix. Every keystroke, every website visit, every tweet, every photo, every video we share and look at… all being fed into numerous databases for numerous purposes.
As a heavy feeder of data into these streams, I have tried to reconcile my private life with my public one; but I know that if I want to use them, and try to make some headway into the “attention economy”, I must reasonably expect that the price for participating in Cyberspace, is the recording of my every movement within it.
Of course, the underlying assumption in my (and perhaps your) use is that there is no unifying program tying all the little data droppings we leave behind in our daily lives… no one actually listening to and watching the Matrix… This is what allows us to easily invoke Big Brother as if it were still a fictional archetype of a society. Big Brother may have the capability of watching, but he only pays attention when you are breaking the rules, or exploiting personal data.
But what about the people who don’t participate in Cyberspace, and cite privacy issues as their reason number 1.
The HRM has over 1200 cameras in use across the city in facilities and on Metro Transit Buses. That figure is no where close to the total number of CCTV cameras in use across the city, and indeed the whole province. The article indicates (and I suspect most public opinion agrees) that the primary purpose for these cameras is safety, and crime prevention. Although no one is monitoring the cameras, and it is hard to imagine a camera stopping a crime in progress even if they are being monitored… it is generally acceptable that CCTV cameras are a good way to enhance our personal safety.
The Brits have been doing it for years already, and major cities across Canada seem to be adopting a model of surveillance, with one noticable difference from the way it is carried out over there. In the UK, you are constantly being reminded that you are being watched by an omnious voice that comes across the subway speakers every 10 minutes, and asked to assist the CCTV cameras and report “all suspicious activity to authorities.” The authorities want people to feel like Big Brother is watching (even if he isn’t).
In Canada we like to do these things more subtley and friendly… just check out the picture with the associated Herald Story… Smile, you are on camera.
And we complacently smile and wave away our expectations of privacy… enthusiastically even, when the Google car drives by.
But where do we draw the line in the sand? We accept public surveillance in the name of security and public safety. We find electronic banking convenient and reward cards rewarding. We accept most of the cameras and data-tracking. We accept the technology which invades and kills our privacy… in fact we love it. We assist in the creation of the panoptic mosaic which is our technocracy by documenting our lives ourselves, and sharing it with anyone who cares to take an interest.
Perhaps CCTV recording will always remain okay and acceptable by the public, so long as it is related to our activities which are conducted in public.
And perhaps it will remain okay when we install cameras in the houses of people on welfare, like they are now doing in the UK (as reported by Wired Magazine in August). It is apparently a reasonable and rational thing to do over there… so why not here?
I’m glad there are watchdog organizations out there who make it their business to advocate for a human right to privacy… but ultimately I’m just happy for the little claims to privacy I can still make. I still feel as though I am in relative control of my public/private boundaries. Though I acknowledge that control is fairly superficial, because as we are so often reminded – Big Brother could watch if he wanted to.
Where were you 8 years ago today?
Right around this time eight years ago, I was at MicMac Mall with Gabriel and Izaak shopping for a new bag, as that was the year I returned to school at St. Joseph’s College of Early Childhood Education. I remember this day with great clarity, as it was a day that greatly impacted on my perceptions of the political realities of the day. Every moment was recorded in my head like short film clips.
I was in the store Bentley… you know the one with luggage and wallets and backpacks and the fuzzy slippers (I never could figure out the consumer connection between travel and slippers). In any case, Izaak was in the stroller, and Gabriel was almost three. This was before Izaak was mobile, so it was easy to be out with the two of them by myself.
The radio was on. Q104. With an important news update… This was odd to me, as it was early in the morning on Q104… it is usually the chatter of dirty jokes, boobies and beer, not reportings from Washington.
“The Pentagon has Been Attacked!”
My attention dropped from the wallet I had in my hand and zeroed in on the radio, “What did that say?”
Another customer had wandered into the store… “Oh didn’t you hear? America is under attack. A missile flew into the Pentagon and the Statue of Liberty has been hit by a plane… It’s all over the news.”
No I certainly did not hear… If I did hear, I would certainly not by standing in Bentley shopping for freaking wallets… “No, I have to get home.”
I remember my heart was racing. I beelined it to the bus depot and anxiously waited for the bus. This was a time when I was having frequent panic attacks, so everything was particularly heightened. Now waiting for a bus was a time that evoked anxiety in me even at times I did not think that the world was potentially coming to an end (leftover anxiety from Y2K, but at the time, real nonetheless.
It took me about 15 minutes to get home. I hopped on the bus that would get me closest, and pretty much ran from the stop to my duplex off Wyse Road.
The other half of our duplex was rented by close friends (considered family). One of which was scheduled to babysit that afternoon. Dave had gone to work at Convergys that morning… and I had classes. At least I thought I had classes…
I burst into the house and put on CNN… to the sight of that video clip which probably wins the award for most replayed historical clip ever. A plane, flying into the World Trade Tower…
I picked up the phone and called next door… “Turn on your TV or get the hell over here.”
It was all so surreal. And then, when the towers came down, I welled up as my heart broke. This is fucking crazy. I felt like I knew that in that moment, things would never be the same again. I was terrified that Bush was at the helm… and remember lamenting Al Gore’s bum deal all over again (the wounds had just healed).
Eight years later and we are certainly living in a different context. The ghosts of 9/11 still haunt us in Afghanistan and Iraq… and in our daily lives as we find ourselves handing over little pieces of our privacy in the name of security and intelligence.
9/11 was a game changer for the trajectory of globalization, community and human progress. It was perhaps the perfect excuse for CCTV, wire-tapping, holding people without charges or legal representation and using the Stanford (Zimbardo) Prison Experiment as a model for dealing with “terrorists”.
9/11 gave us new enemies to replace the commies, and a new source of anxiety and irrational fear to justify a post-modern witch-hunt on those who would question the omnipresence and omnipotence of America… in all her red white and blue glory.
Yes 9/11 changed all that. It traumatized North America, and we will probably never be the same again.
