Portal:Digital Opportunities
Digital Opportunities
Every day, the Internet becomes more important for society. The Internet revolution is fundamentally and significantly changing politics, education, and the nature of human interactions. This section explores the challenges and potential in areas.
Elements of Digital PrivacyCollection & RetentionThe life of a Digital Native is constantly being recorded. This information about a Digital Native is retained by and accessible to others. The following are examples of what kind of data is retained, who collects it, and who can view it. VisibilityTechnology can organize, highlight, and take out of context info that's already available online. For example, the New York Times recently reported that Rudy Giuliani's daughter supported Barack Obama on Facebook.[1] After this was reported her profile was taken down. This incident shows that much of the information on the internet is available for anyone to see. ZabaSearch provides people's full name, birth date and address. Control over reproduction/duplicationThis is a tricky issue arising from the internet. Previously thought private information is now becoming public. The following are examples of people's picture/video taken without their permission and circulated throughout the internet. While in the first example the victim is not in the wrong, whereas in the other two people genuinely did immoral acts, nevertheless the issue arises: Does a person control a right to reproduction/duplication of their body and actions from the internet? As of yet, no solution has been found that does grant full autonomy to the individual. United States and EU Privacy LawsIn March 2006, the European Commission passed the European Data Retention Directive. This directive legally requires all Internet and telephone service providers in the EU to retain records of communication data for up to 2 years. While communication service providers are _not_ allowed to retain records of the _content_ of communications, virtually all other data about the communications is required to be collected and stored, to be turned over to the authorities upon request. Americans are skeptical of having the government have their information but OK having business handle it [2]. That is, in the US privacy protection is essentially liberty protection, i.e. protection from government [3]. Moreover, American privacy law has never fully embraced privacy within relationships; it typically views information exposed to others as no longer private.[4] This is not that surprising since U.S. Privacy law historically focused on protecting the liberty of each individual citizen from the government. |
Problems of Digital PrivacyChoosing between providing oneâs personal information and giving up the information and services that an individual wants from the network is particularly difficult in the current technological environment because, in many cases, it is not known what will happen to the personal information once it is out on the network. [5] Solutions for Digital PrivacyAmericans are skeptical of having the government have their information but OK having business handle it [6]. That is, in the US privacy protection is essentially liberty protection, i.e. protection from government [7]. Moreover, American privacy law has never fully embraced privacy within relationships; it typically views information exposed to others as no longer private.[8] This is not that surprising since U.S. Privacy law historically focused on protecting the liberty of each individual citizen from the government. Relevant Research and ArticlesUseful Void: The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing (Mayer-Schoenberger, 2007) How Many Ways You're Being Watched, USA Today (2007) Enjoying Technologies Conveniences But Not Escaping Its Watchful Eyes, Washington Post (2007) Your Identity, Open to All (Wired News, 2005) Why Web 2.0 will end your privacy (Bit Tech, 2006) Strong privacy laws may explain data security in Europe (Intl. Herald Tribune, 2005)
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