Week 12 - Essay

Why is privacy such a controversial issue for Internet users? Discuss with reference to at least ONE social network service (or other web2.0 service)

New communicating technologies have made the transmission, collection and sharing of data more accessible across the Internet. Since the creation of Web 2.0 and User Generated Content, Internet privacy has become a controversial issue. With the growing number of users on social networking sites, the relationship between personal privacy and public security is often blurred. This essay will argue that Internet privacy has become such a debatable issue for Internet users due to the potential detrimental effect it can have on a persons’ relationships, workplace, identity and security. This essay will be in reference to the social networking site Facebook. Firstly, we will discuss the use of Web 2.0 and User Generated Content and how this can have an impact on relationships. Secondly, we will analyse the monitoring of social networking sites by employers and the risks involved for future and present employees. Thirdly, we will discuss the security risk by providing personal information on social networking sites. This essay will draw from scholarly articles by the Telecommunication Journal of Australia, the Law Society Journal as well as Facebook’s privacy policy page and other Internet sites.

The creation of Web 2.0 sparked an international interest in the sharing, uploading and distribution of content (Treese, 2006: 15). This is known as User Generated Content (UGC), which allows end users to publicise their thoughts, creations and ideas online (Treese, 2006: 16). We see this in the form of social networking sites, blogging, chat rooms, discussion boards, maps systems and more. Facebook has become a popular site for sharing content amongst people who live, work and study around them. 

Although social networking sites create a new sense of community (Foster et al, 2010: 5) through public discussion, posting photos and sharing ideas, it has the potential to have a detrimental impact on people’s relationships (Grimmelman, 2009: 1174). An extreme example was in 2008, when a man from the UK was jailed after murdering his ex-wife for changing her relationship status on Facebook from married to single (Grimmelman, 2009: 1174). Although it is important to note it wasn’t the end of the relationship that sparked his rage, as he moved out four days prior. Instead it was the publicising of private relationship to a public audience (Grimmelman, 2009: 1174). 

Consider the application tagging on Facebook. This enables you to tag your friends, or anyone’s name as a label for the person or object in a picture. After the user posts the content, the individuals in the photo may chose to un-tag themselves if they look or feel like they’re acting inappropriately (Grimmelman, 2009: 1171). However, it is up to the user who posted the content to do what they like with it. Imagine the sort of repercussions if someone were secretly gay, in a relationship or didn’t want someone to know about their friendship? Facebook, like other social networking sites has an impact on relationships, which makes privacy of such a high concern to Internet users.

With the development of Web 2.0 services, employers are becoming increasingly aware of social media available for recruiting and monitoring employees (Sprague, 2007: 20). Social networking has become an important business tool of the twenty first century for communication between colleagues and clients all over the world (Bennett et al, 2009: 140). Nardi et al (2002) stress the important role employees’ social networks play in the workplace, with the maintenance of those networks becoming vital to businesses that rely on team and project related work. Whether for team building, colleague to client communication or PR or marketing purposes, social networking has an important role in the workplace (Bennett et al, 2009:140). 

However, there is increasing controversy over employees posting too much information online, resulting in a loss of employment or instability for future employment (Sprague, 2007: 20). A Computer World article, “One in five employers use Facebook”, revealed alarming statistics of employers’ use of social networking.  The study conducted by Careerbuilder surveyed over 31 000 employers and found one third of candidates were not hired due to unprofessional content displayed on social media. Further research suggested 45 percent of employers use social media for screening job applicants. Most employers did not tolerate any illicit behaviour involving posts of alcohol or drugs, remarks about their current employers or unprofessional conduct. An article, ‘Facebook entry gets officer fired’ found a UK employee sacked after posting ‘my job is boring’ on her Facebook page. Her employer, Ivell Marketing and Logistics terminated her employment following her comments on Facebook, stating she was obviously not happy there and didn’t enjoy her work. There are obvious issues with social networking and privacy in the workplace. Individuals have to be extremely careful with the content they put on these sites (Susskind, 2008: 24), as it can have a long lasting effect on current or future employment.

Internet users are becoming increasingly aware of what information they contribute and upload online, however there is still a majority who don’t know the consequences of their actions (Susskind, 2008: 24). A publication in the Law Society Journal (2008) revealed people were more willing to reveal personal information on the Internet than in the public arena. Although, despite this illusion of privacy, information placed on social networking sites is more permanent and potentially harmful than screaming something out in the street (Susskind, 2008: 25). Most users were unaware that deleted files are stored and recovered easily (Susskind, 2008: 25). Facebook’s privacy policy has limitations on the removal of data once it has been posted. Even if an account has been deleted the information is not lost and could appear on other users pages or third parties. Information such as browser type, IP address, location, pages your visit as well as any content posted online. The European Network Security and Information Agency identified some key risks of using social networking and UGC sites (Susskind, 2008: 24). Of these were identity theft, target ‘phishing’ (criminal activity for posing as well known brands to retrieve personal information from users such as account details) and threats of viruses, spyware and spam (Susskind, 2008: 24). The effects Internet privacy can have on users is ongoing, which contributes to it being such a contentious issue for Internet users.

With the introduction of Web 2.0 and social networking sites, Internet users are at a higher risk of privacy invasion. We’ve identified the risks of Internet privacy on social networking sites can be detrimental to relationships, employment and security. Relationships can cease to exist, current and future employers can monitor your online profiles and there are risks of identity theft, phishing and viruses and scams. From here, the control lies in the hands of the user, knowing that any content put up on social networking sites doesn’t disappear. There is no solution to why privacy is such a contentious issue, however there are measures individuals can take to ensure their safety is not comprised. The important thing to note is that we are control of what we put online and although it may seem like there are walls guarding are information, the walls of the Internet are endless.     

Reference List

Bennett, James; Owers, Mark; Pitt, Michael and Tucker, Michael 2010, ‘Workplace impact of social networking’, Property Management, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 138-148, viewed 14 October 2010.

Foster, Mary; Francescucci, Anthony and West, Bettina 2010, ‘Why Users Participate in Online Social Networks’, Internation Journal of e-Business Management, vol. 4, no.1, pp. 3-19, viewed 14 October 2010.

Grimmelmann, James 2008, ‘Saving Facebook’, Iowa Law Review, pp. 1137-1206, viewed 14 October 2010.

Jackson, Margaret 2003, ‘Internet privacy’, Telecommunication Journal of Australia, vol. 53 no. 2, pp. 21-31, Informit, viewed 14 October 2010.

Nardi, B.A; Whittaker, S and Schwarz, H 2002, ‘NetWORKers and their activity in intentional networks’, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Vol. 11, pp. 205-42, viewed 14 October 2010.

Sprague, Robert 2008, ‘Googling Job Applicants: Incorporating Personal Information into Hiring Decisions’, Law Journal Library, pp. 19-40, viewed 14 October 2010.

Susskind, Anne 2008, ‘Privacy on the Internet is an illusion, experts warn’, Law Society Journal, vol 46, no. 7, pp. 24-25, Informit, viewed 14 October 2010.

Treese, Win 2006, ‘Web 2.0: Is it really different?’ Networker, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 15-17, viewed 14 October 2010.

Bibliography

ABC Network 2010, viewed 14 October 2010 <http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2009/s2711922.htm>

Ailwood, Andrew and Govey, Chris 2008, ‘Privacy 2.0: online privacy in a user generated world wide web’, Communications Law Bulletin, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 8-10, Informit, viewed 14 October 2010.

Antivirus Ware 2010, viewed 14 October 2010 <http://www.antivirusware.com/articles/what-is-phishing.htm>

Australian Government, Officer of the Privacy Commissioner, 2010, viewed 14 October 2010 <http://www.privacy.gov.au/topics/technologies>

Blackmore, Nicholas and Fajerman, Amanda 2005, ‘Sneaky software: the spyware threat and what the government is (not) doing about it’, Keeping Good Companies, vol. 57, no. 8, pp. 483-486, Informit, viewed 14 October 2010.

CBS Interactive/bnet n.d. viewed 14 October 2010 <http://www.bnetau.com.au/blog/aussierules/facebook-at-work-what-are-the-legal-risks/140>

CBS Interactive/cnet news n.d. viewed 14 October 2010 <http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10172931-71.html>

Ellis-Christensen, Tricia 2010, viewed 14 October 2010 http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-user-generated-content.htm

Ethical Issues of Internet Privacy 2010, viewed 14 October 2010 <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ethical-issues-of-internet-privacy.html>

Fisse, Brent and O’Hara, Delia 2000, ‘Are your employees placing your company directors at risk?’ Keeping Good Companies, vol. 52, no. 11, pp. 692, Informit, viewed 14 October 2010.

Gonzalez, Nick 2010, viewed 14 October 2010 <http://www.checkfacebook.com/>

Guardian News and Media Limited n.d. viewed 14 October 2010<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/17/facebook-murder>

Livingstone et al 2009, ‘On the Rapid Rise of Social Networking Sites: New Findings and Policy Implications’, Children and Society, vol. 24 no. 1, pp. 75-83, viewed 14 October 2010.

Wikis, Blogs and Web 2.0 Technology 2008, viewed 14 October 2010 <http://www.unimelb.edu.au/copyright/information/guides/wikisblogsweb2blue.pdf>

Week 10 - Course evaluation

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this course. I feel like I've learnt a range of new skills in technology I wouldn't of been exposed to otherwise. Embedding you tube videos, creating links, writing blogs and even producing a 30 shot film within the space of two hours, are all online tools I wouldn't of explored otherwise. I think learning these tools has made me realise I can be creative and actively participate in the online community. Learning about the concept of culture jamming was interesting. I now don't look at everything at face value and think a bit more as to whether things are legitimate. I would say that I am happy with those tools I've learnt in the course.


On the other hand, some weeks I found the information we were sourcing was completely irrelevant. I understand most of it was to test our researching skills, but I don't think it was useful. However, looking at the course as a whole, I'm happy with how its been so far and I'm looking forward to researching virtual communities and whether they are a useful understanding of online life. 

Week 9 - Tutorial Task and Tutespark

I've chosen to write my essay on the 'virtual community', whether it is a useful way of understanding contemporary online life. At first I thought I would look into Second Life, which is an online virtual world that encompasses real life activities. You're able to create yourself as a person, interact with others, buy land, create infrastructure, travel, shop. Basically anything. I think it is an extreme example of an online community, but people really do use it today. To understand the topic a bit more, I've looked into the term virtual community. Rheingold (1993) explains virtual community as "when people carry on public discussion long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships". More or less, it is a group of people who communicate via the internet.





http://secondlife.com/whatis/?lang=en-US


I think a 'virtual community' is a useful way of describing online life. In a sense, everything we do online is through communication. Whether it is reading emails, posting comments onto a blog, interacting through social media or playing online video games, the sense of a virtual community is present. But to what extent is the virtual community real? I'm going to explore more into Second Life as the example of and online community and whether this creates a realistic mirror image of life. To start, I'll be researching the Second Life website, blogs and academic articles on virtual communities. 


I've started to look at some comments on virtual communities. Someone posted a theory they had about using an online community. He talks about people investing in social capital through online communities. He refers this to playing World of Warcraft for quite sometime. After seeing the same thing over and over, he began to get sick of what he was seeing and doing, but he kept playing because there was friends he didn't want to leave. Everyone he knew in the game, which was 30 or more friends kept playing beyond losing interest just to keep that attachment to their new friends.


http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/why-spend-time-on-second-life/

Week 8 - Negative impacts of technology on humanity

This week we looked at virtual psychology, how new communication technologies have altered the economy of the planet. We were looking at virtual realities, which is when one or more users are participating in a computer simulated environment. I saw on the news this morning a real life plane simulation, where you can pay to fly a plane in countries of the world and land in some of the most difficult airports. Its interesting to see that this is happening and makes me think what other false realities we may be able to immerse ourselves in. In a way, its almost frightening to think of what might be next. Here's another virtual simulation, which sends you all over the world in a glass elevator, using Google Street View images.





To understand more about this weeks task, I have researched into the term cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is an idea about expressing negative ideas about human nature, technology and the environment and their connection to the future. It is often considered as a product, such as music, art, film that encapsulates the idea of what might happen when human nature and technology combine.


http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/what-is-cyberpunk/


Cyberpunk can be broken down into themes such as, negative impacts of technology on humanity, fusion of man and machine, corporate control or society, story focuses on the underground and ubiquitous access to information. I found the theme negative impacts of technology on humanity most interesting. I came to think about the effect technology had on humanity in the creation of nuclear weapons. The nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are an example of technology at its worst.

The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in 1945

A WORM attacking computers in Iran and threatening to shut down the country's first nuclear facility just weeks before it is due to open may have been developed in Israel.

The Stuxnet worm sparked awe and alarm in the world of digital security when it was first identified in June, with analysts claiming it was so powerful, the wealth of resources needed to develop it made a nation-state the most likely culprit.

According to security software experts and analysts, Stuxnet may have been designed to target the Iranian facility at Bushehr and suspicions have fallen on the US as well as Israel. Experts say this worm is linked to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in 1945, saying the Japanese have had the technology for years without releasing it. 

Iran said this week that Stuxnet is mutating and wreaking havoc on computerised industrial equipment there but denied the Bushehr plant was among the facilities penetrated. Scientists warn the Japanese may be secretly plotting a nuclear bombing on Iran to frame the US for the damage caused in 1945.

Now the New York Times reports that a piece of code dug out of the worm includes a reference to the Book of Esther, the Old Testament story in which the Jews pre-empt a Persian plot to destroy them, and is a possible clue of Israeli involvement.No one has claimed credit for Stuxnet and a top US cybersecurity official said last week that the United States does not know who is behind it or its purpose.

The other possibility is the reference was placed there as a "red herring" designed to throw investigators off the track or stir political tensions between the two countries. 

The Times said the US has also "rapidly ramped up a broad covert program, inherited from the Bush administration, to undermine Iran’s nuclear program". The Japanese are denying all suspicions, while experts are considering the involvement of the US.

Shai Blitzblau, head of the computer warfare laboratory at Maglan, an Israeli company specialising in information security, told the Times he was "convinced that Israel had nothing to do with Stuxnet".

"We did a complete simulation of it and we sliced the code to its deepest level," he said. 

Stuxnet specifically attacks Siemens supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems commonly used to manage water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other industrial facilities. The self-replicating malware has also been found lurking on Siemens systems in India, Indonesia and Pakistan, but the heaviest infiltration appears to be in Iran, according to researchers. The software is known to be highly contagious and could reach The Australian Army computer systems later this year.

Once resident inside a system, Stuxnet simply waits, checking every five seconds to see if its target parameters are met. Once they are, it triggers a sequence - the code DEADF007 - that forces the network's industrial process to self-destruct. Scientists suggest this could create a shift in the earth's orbit which will inevitably irregular and extreme natural disasters across the globe.

"After the original code (for the entity's regular process) is no longer executed, we can expect that something will blow up soon," Mr Langner told The Christian Science Monitor earlier this week.

"Something big."

The Bushehr nuclear plant containing the Stuxnet virus / AP

http://www.news.com.au/technology/who-is-myrtus-book-of-esther-clue-points-to-israeli-involvement-in-stuxnet-attack/story-e6frfro0-1225932665892

Week 7 Tutorial task

1. What is creative commons and how could this licensing framework be relevant to your own experience at university?


Creative Commons is a not for profit organisation that works to increase the level of creativity in 'the commons', which is the public's use for legal distributing, sharing and reusing. Creative Commons provide tools and licences that give individual and corporate creators a chance to copyright their creative work. This can be seen with the term 'all rights reserved' to 'some rights reserved'. This licensing framework could be relevant to my experience at university as it can be used as a tool to protect my creations (art, photography, text) from being illegally used or not represented as my work.
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/62/Creativecommons-informational-flyer_eng.pdf

2. Find 3 examples of works created by creative commons and embed them in your blog.
Three works I found made by Creative Commons are:


Nasty Old People, a swedish film directed by Hanna Skold used on the file sharing site The Pirate Bay. 











The parody sci-fi film the Star Wreck, one in the series of the Finnish Star Trek parody.



The Slip, an album produced by American rock band Nine Inch Nails also used a creative commons licence. This is a clip of one of their songs head down, in their album The Slip. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_available_under_a_Creative_Commons_License

3. Find an academic article which discusses creative commons using a database or online journal. Provide a link to and a summary of the article.


Michael Baumann explores an insider's guide to Creative Commons. For internet users, the issue of copyright has been a hot topic since the beginning of the Internet. Today, law states that if you create something, it is copyright, which means no one can use it without permission from you. If we think about the internet today, what if we wanted to share this material? Everything on the net today is about sharing and reusing files. Creative Commons comes in, where you are able to partially copyright and people are now able to use your content, but you still get the credit. 


Creative Commons has four principal licensing conditions; Attribution, Share Alike, Noncommercial and No Derivative Works. All of these provide different levels of copyright, depending on what you want. For example, Noncommercial means anyone can copy your work, however no one can use it for commercial purposes. Although, Creative Commons stresses two important points. It is not a replacement for copyright and it may not be covered worldwide. However, it is a useful tool that benefits most internet users.


http://HY8FY9JJ4B.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=An+Insider%27s+Guide+to+Creative+Commons&rft.jtitle=Information+Today&rft.au=Michael+Baumann&rft.date=2009--1-0-&rft.issn=8755-6286&rft.volume=26&rft.issue=9&rft.spage=15&rft.externalDBID=IFT&rft.externalDocID=1878390111

4. Have a look at Portable Apps (a pc based application) – provide a brief description of what it is and how you think this is useful.


Portable applications are software programs that you can run from a flash drive or removable drive without installing them. What this means is you can leave your lap top at home and use a client machine (someone else's computer) without leaving any traces on their computer. These have become very popular with all sorts of industries, for example, design, blogging or business purposes. I think Portable Apps can be very useful in different professions, in particular design. Lets say you wanted to visit a potential client, you could run a program like Inkscape and briefly draw something up so they can see your skills and determine if you were the right candidate to create their design.


http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-free-useful-portable-applications-you-should-know/

Week 7 Tutespark

This weeks lecture was about creative commons. Creative commons is a not for profit organisation that started in 2003, with the idea of having more freely available content, where it serves a public good. They provide free licences and tools for copyright owners to allow other users to share and recycle their material legally. Rather than only being 'all rights reserved', they have built on the term 'some rights reserved' which enables them to share content easily.


The free software I chose to experiment with was Moxilla Firefox. After my computer crashed a few years ago, we had to change our web browser to Moxilla Firefox to keep using the internet. To be honest, I didn't notice much of a difference. The only things I did notice was some websites didn't work properly and at times it seemed to be slower than usual. Other than that it was very similar to use, nothing that you couldn't do with Internet Explorer. After reading into it, I found some interesting differences between Moxilla Firefox and Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer was seen as an ongoing security risk, with 90% of hackers using this web browser and it doesn't look like lessening in the future. On the other hand, Moxilla Firefox cannot run some websites and can often be slower than normal and takes up more memory.  


After using this software and going to the lecture it made me think how we don't need to rely on the big corporate softwares to do what we need to do online. It really comes down to brands, everyone is familiar with Internet Explorer so why would they use Moxilla Firefox? Overall I didn't have a problem with it, but for security reasons I might consider changing in the future.



http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/62/Creativecommons-informational-flyer_eng.pdf
http://www.techsupportalert.com/firefox.htm
http://www.downloadfirefoxbrowser.com/

Week 6 Tutespark

Leading on from the lecture, we looked at new media in the sense of virtual communities and individual identities. Virtual community was explained as a group of people who communicate through the internet, while individual identities was the way people express who they are through the internet. This made me think about all the photos and posts I put on Facebook. Are they really a projection of me or is it just a small piece of it? I think you try to make it a mirror image of yourself, but somewhere along the way the internet makes it so commercial and fake.

We're asked to find who owns the content you put on the internet on various sites. After looking at various terms and conditions pages from social networking sites I found we do own all our pictures, video and text. However, as soon as you close your account, any content can be used for whatever purpose the organisation wants. Facebook has recently changed its policy, everything you put on their site is theirs to use, for advertising or any purposes. This really changes the way I think about social networking sites. If its that easy to do, why are we posting such personal accounts on the internet? Scary stuff!! 



http://thenextweb.com/2009/02/16/facebook-owns-literally-put-facebook/

http://www.facebook.com/policy.php
http://videos.webpronews.com/2009/11/11/twitters-terms-of-service-spark-user-interest/

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