Final Presentation

1. Privacy in the Information Age Presented by: Andrew Wesolek Information Technology Fall, 2009

2. Panopticism: The Theoretical Foundation Panoptic (all seeing) structure first envisioned by Jeremy Bentham as a perfect prison Foucault takes a more metaphorical approach: Panopticism is not a physical structure, but a social one. “To maintain order in a democratic and capitalist society, the populace needs to believe that any person could be surveilled at any time.” Quote and Picture taken from: http://www.cla.purdue.edu/English/theory/newhistoricism/modules/foucaultcarceral.html

3. Concrete Manifestations Facebook: 20% of colleges and universities currently screen applicants’ social networking sites. Content you share is no longer “yours” "We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile” –Facebook privacy policy You cannot remove content from Facebook’s servers “Facebook is able to track the buying habits of its users on affiliated third-party sites even when they are logged out of their account or have opted out of its controversial ‘Beacon’ tracking service”. - http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Logged-in-or-out-Facebook-is-watching-you/0,130061744,339284281,00.htm

4. More Concrete Manifestations Google: http://www.criminaljusticeusa.com/blog/2009/25-surprising-things-that-google-knows-about-you/

5. What is Privacy Anyway? Adam Moore: “A right to control access to and uses of—places, bodies, and personal information” Note the normative and descriptive aspects Also, element of control

6. Should we really have a Right to Privacy? Some Say no A right to privacy of what? Importance of Intentionality

7. Back to Foucault On Panopticisim: “It is not that the beautiful totality of the individual is amputated, repressed, altered by our social order, it is rather that the individual is carefully fabricated within it” We might strengthen this statement by postulating that privacy is a necessary condition for freedom

8. What should we do? Carefully examine costs and benefits of new technology Define a domestic (private) sphere and respect its boundaries Consider and respect the intentionality of our ‘digital actions’ http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/images/2008/08/29/surveillance_screen_peterme.jpg