451
that publication via the Internet could mean instant global distribution and perpetual existence.
(See the cases of former U.S. representatives Anthony Weiner and Chris Lee about how
embarrassing photos of oneself can be globally distributed and endure forever.)
Twitter asks us to self-disclose in 140 characters or less. Facebook encourages us to post
status updates, photos, and other personal information like our birthday, relationships, and
political views. Elsewhere, we upload audio and video, post comments to Web sites, and send
frequent text messages.
Here are just a few measures of our collective “self-invasion of privacy.”
• Every day 144.8 billion e-mails are sent.5
• Every minute 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube.6
Of course, from other perspectives such self-disclosure is not alarming, but instead the essential
content of a new economic model. In 1999, as consumers raised concerns about their privacy in
the emerging market of online transactions, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy (who stood
to gain from broad acceptance of e-commerce) dismissed worries about Internet privacy: “You
Yet we probably don’t know what exactly we did agree to when we signed up for Facebook,
Twitter, e-mail service, mobile phone service, or a Google, Amazon, Apple, or LinkedIn
452
account. Is there an invasion of privacy that we did not consent to (or at least did not knowingly
consent to)? What happens when corporations have our data?
choices and increased transparency.” The FTC argues that fair practices on consumer privacy
will “enhance trust and stimulate commerce.”7
Even so, progress on industry self-regulation toward that goal has been slow, as the
temptation to use consumer data for more immediate commercial purposes is high. West Virginia
senator John D. Rockefeller IV noted, “In my experience, corporations are unlikely to regulate
A number of recent cases have called other privacy matters to the foreground. For example,
years.9
Since that agreement with the FTC, Facebook has also agreed with the California Attorney
General’s office that all apps in the Facebook App Center would include written privacy policies.
The agreement will likely benefit Facebook app users beyond California, too. Illinois passed, and
several other states are developing, legislation to prohibit employers from demanding social
453
media passwords of applicants and employees so they can screen their profiles. (Amazingly, this
With each new technological innovation, there is an opportunity to gather more information
on consumers and to exploit it for profit. In the fall of 2012, the European Union ruled that
business and ethical dilemma: “Facebook is under pressure from Wall Street to profit from its
vast trove of data, including pictures, and also from regulators worldwide over the use of
personal information.”11 Facebook is certain to move on to its next idea for using its vast trove of
data.
sites and apps make with us.
As detailed in Chapter 1, a media-literate perspective involves mastering five overlapping
“What does that mean?” and “So what?” questions about your findings; (4) evaluation: arriving
454
and (5) engagement: taking some action that connects our critical interpretations and evaluations
with our responsibility to question the privacy practices of digital companies.
Step 1: Description
use your personal information and data.
Here’s how we’ll do it. The White House released a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights in 2012
as general principles that all organizations should adopt for fair information practice.12 We’ll
apply these seven standards as a checklist to describe privacy statements:
• Transparency: Consumers have a right to easily understandable and accessible information
about privacy and security practices. (Is the policy in plain, understandable language? Do
they share your information with other parties?)
teenagers?)
455
• Security: Consumers have a right to secure and responsible handling of personal data. (Does
the company make clear its policy for making your account data safe from accidental
disclosure or hacker attacks?)
• Focused Collection: Consumers have a right to reasonable limits on the personal data that
• Accountability: Consumers have a right to have personal data handled by companies with
appropriate measures in place to assure they adhere to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.
(Does the company train employees to correctly handle personal data, perform regular audits,
and monitor third-party users of the data?)
There are a number of places you might look to find privacy statements. The easiest way is to
Twitter, Verizon, Yahoo!, and Zynga.)
Step 2: Analysis
456
• Which companies require that users must opt out if they don’t want to receive marketing
communications?
• Which companies state they may collect users’ geolocation by tracking their mobile device?
• Which companies explain why they need the data they gather on customers? (For example, if
they need users’ birthday or gender, do they explain why?)
• Which companies explain what will happen to your information if you close down your
account?
Step 3: Interpretation
In the interpretation stage, you will determine the larger meanings of the patterns you have
information of real people to be carefully protected?
457
Does the privacy statement read like a dry legal document for the company to ward off
potential lawsuits? Or does the policy appear to be a genuine attempt at communicating with
more focused on profiting from personal information (and then obscuring what it actually does),
or does the company seem to have made a legitimate effort to bring a useful service to
consumers and take responsibility for their personal information?
Step 4: Evaluation
The evaluation stage of the critical process is about making informed judgments. Building on
description, analysis, and interpretation, you can better evaluate the fair information practices of
digital corporations.
Overall, to return to our initial question, is the convenience of our digital ecosystem worth
the increasing invasion of our privacy? Is it possible to truly control our privacy within
458
Facebook, Twitter, and other companies, even if we agree to their terms? Does privacy really
matter, or should we just “get over it”?
1. Marshall McLuhan, Counterblast (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1969), 103.
459
2. Somini Sengupta and Kevin J. O’Brien, “Facebook Can ID Faces, but Using Them Grows
4. Michael O’Grady, “SMS Usage Remains Strong in the US: 6 Billion SMS Messages Are
5. Mark Hachman, “Email Will Never Die: The Man Who Invented It Reveals Why,”
6. YouTube, “Statistics,” accessed September 23, 2012,
http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics.
8. Edward Wyatt, “F.T.C. and White House Push for Online Privacy Laws,” New York Times,
9. Julia Angwin, “Google, FTC Near Settlement on Privacy,” Wall Street Journal, July 10,
10. Jason Keyser, “Illinois Facebook Password Law Bars Employers from Asking for Social
11. Sengupta and O’Brien, “Facebook Can ID Faces.”
2012. Internet Archive,
https://web.archive.org/web/20170109174017/https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files
/privacy-final.pdf.
Mass Communication Video Resources
ADVERTISING: HISTORY
biggest names in the business. Available at vimeo.com/95813029.
The Ad and the Ego (1997, 57 minutes). This video traces advertising’s development as a mass
Newsreel, http://theadandtheego.com/AE000.01.html.
Vintage Commercials (1950s and 1960s, 60 minutes). Features many celebrity stars, such as
461
and that “coughs due to smoking disappear” when using its product. Distributed by Shokus
Archive (http://www.archive.org). Type in the keywords “classic television commercials,”
and choose to download or stream the identical collection.
Vintage Commercials II (1950s and 1960s, 60 minutes). Features Buster Keaton, the Three
segment from the 1960s featuring Josephine the Plumber, Mr. Whipple, and Mrs. Olson.
Distributed by Shokus Video, 800-SHOKUS-1; http://www.shokus.com.
Vintage Commercials III (1950s, 60 minutes). Features Andy Devine, Hilary Brooke, Lucille
SHOKUS-1; http://www.shokus.com.
Vintage Commercials IV (1950s and 1960s, 60 minutes). Features an assortment of classic
commercials and series promos from the 1950s and 1960s. Distributed by Shokus Video,
Vintage Commercials V (1950s and 1960s, 60 minutes). Features advertisements for cars,
cigarettes, cereal, and toys, including the very first Certs commercial, the very first Rolaids
462
http://www.shokus.com.
Vintage Commercials VI (1950s and 1960s, 60 minutes). Features Mystery Date, Racko, and
SHOKUS-1; http://www.shokus.com.
Vintage Commercials VII (1950s and 1960s, 60 minutes). Features mostly animated spots selling
ADVERTISING: PRODUCTION
Humanities and Sciences, 800-322-8755; http://films.com.
ADVERTISING: CULTURE
463
Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (2007/2008, 67 minutes). With virtually
http://www.mediaed.org.
doctors. Distributed by the Media Education Foundation, 800-897-0089;
http://www.mediaed.org.
Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies, and Alcohol (2004, 45 minutes). A critique of the role that
http://www.mediaed.org.
Captive Audience: Advertising Invades the Classroom (2003, 45 minutes). This documentary is
about marketers who wish to reach the lucrative youth market. It shows how the relatively
uncluttered school environment represents the final frontier and provides access to a captive
audience of millions of students. Distributed by the Media Education Foundation, 800-897-
0089; http://www.mediaed.org.
464
industries to keep Americans hooked on their dangerous products. Distributed by the Media
Education Foundation, 800-897-0089; http://www.mediaed.org.
BOOKS: HISTORY
BOOKS: PRODUCTION
http://films.com.
THE INTERNET: HISTORY
THE INTERNET: TECHNOLOGY
legislators reshape the telecom laws for the broadband era. Distributed by WGBH, 617-300-
465
5400, http://www.wgbh.org; available for streaming at
http://video.pbs.org/video/1475883951/.
THE INTERNET: CULTURE
Did You Know? (2007, 6:06 minutes). This quick YouTube video puts into words and music the
Web 2.0 . . . The Machine Is Us/ing Us (2007, 14:31 minutes). A YouTube video response to
Web 2.0 about digital technology, the meaning of hyperlinks and XML, the blogosphere, and
humans’ relationship to technology. Available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl.
927-2900; http://ihffilm.com.
JOURNALISM: VALUES
investigates the way polling data is used by the media to not just reflect what Americans
think but instead to construct public opinion itself. Distributed by the Media Education
Foundation, 800-897-0089; http://www.mediaed.org.
Project Censored: Is the Press Really Free? (1999, 57 minutes). Five stories ignored by the
news stories ignored or censored by the established media. Narrated by Martin Sheen.
467
Distributed by the Media Education Foundation and available on YouTube:
youtube.com/watch?v=UKoDqErD_A8.
800-322-8755; http://films.com.
JOURNALISM: DEMOCRACY
world to show how they obtain their stories in the face of suppression, lies, imprisonment,
and threat of physical harm. Distributed by Icarus Films,
http://www.icarusfilms.com/new2006/dem.html.
http://www.mediaed.org.
Beyond the Frame: Alternative Perspectives on the War on Terrorism (2004, 146 minutes). A
on terrorism. Distributed by the Media Education Foundation, 800-897-0089;
http://www.mediaed.org.
469
Constructing Public Opinion: How Politicians and the Media Misrepresent the Public (2001, 32
Fear and Favor in the Newsroom (1996, 57 minutes). A documentary about corporate control of
the press that asks the question, “How do journalists report on the environment, business, and
issues of war and peace when these same issues touch on the interests of the people they
work for?” Distributed by California Newsreel, 877-811-7495; http://newsreel.org.