Summary-10

Public & Privacy
Outline
-history of and surveillance today
-review of the capture model
-definition of privacy
-private versus public
-civil versus economic
-capture
-example: monitoring on the web
-example: search on the web

Surveillance
close watch kept over someone or something

from surveillance to dataveillance
dataveillance/spying
-carnavor
-echelon
-total information awareness agency
now the “terrorism information awareness” project
name change as of may 21, 2003 to mollify congress’ worries about intrusion of the privacy of u.s. citizens
-officially ended in september 2003

Capture (in comparison with surveillance)
•linguistic metaphors (e.g., grammars of action)
•instrumentation and reorganization of existing activities
•captured activity is assembled from standardized “parts” from an institutional setting
•decentralized and heterogeneous organization
•the driving aims are not necessarily political, but philosophical/market driven

Privacy: a definition
•1.
–a. the quality or state of being apart from company or observation
–b. SECLUSION: freedom from unauthorized intrusion.
•2. archaic : a place of seclusion

Privacy: a culturally specific definition
•Does the U.S. Bill of Rights define an individual’s “right to privacy”?
•Not explicitly, but...
–Inferably: e.g., Amendment IV: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
–Implicitly: e.g., Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Architectures of privacy
•from doors, windows and fences
•to wires, networks, wireless networks, databases and search engines

example: architecture of the web
•examples of anti- & monitoring architectural features of the web
–HTTP headers
•cookies
–encryption (anti-monitoring)
•example of searching on the web
–try “googling” yourself

Architectures and Inefficiencies
Sometimes inefficient architectures, inefficient technologies are good technologies because they allow for or facilitate resistance by the less powerful in the face of powerful individuals, corporations and governments