Living Without Curtains in the Age of Web 2.0

Michael Dick and Daniel Drache

A Digital Report from the Counterpublics Working GroupRobarts Centre for Canadian Studies

York University

September 10, 2010

Let’s start with a key question:

In the age of Web 2.0, where new technologies enable us to “tell all”

and live our lives “without curtains”, what are the consequences for

surveillance and privacy?

The Mania to Tell All: Digital TribesPart One – The Context

Image Credits: L – San Jose Library, R – Ed Yourdon (via Flickr)

The compulsion to share with others is a central imperative of modern life.

Today, new technologies can liberate us from the tribe, or create new digital ones.

Image Credits: L – The Life of Bryan, R – p0kp0k (via Flickr)

When we put ourselves out there, others can watch. Privacy is our buffer between extremes.

Going Public Privacy Surveillance

Image Credits: L – bp6316 is alive, C – BarelyFitz, R - Soctech (via Flickr)

But a respect for privacy is not automatic. And even when we’re mindful of who’s

watching us, surveillance is ever-present.

Image Credits: L – believekevin, R – (Carrie Sloan) (via Flickr)

Often though, we forget to strike this balance because we are overcome with a

craving for attention and friendship. Online, this is especially evident with social

networks, which make us feel that we belong and are somebody.

Image Credits: L – M. Keefe, R – Mykl Roventine (via Flickr)

We connect on social media like Facebook with friends and strangers under the

watchful gaze of “Big Brother”.

Image Credits: L – bennylin0724, R - .schill (via Flickr)

We’re asked, “will you be my friend?”, and we roll out the welcome mat to others in

our tribe by clicking on “accept”.

Image Credits: L – Grant Neufeld, C – Jason-Morrison, R – sitmonkeysupreme (via Flickr)

Then we broadcast certain information about our private lives in order to follow people or

causes online. Willingly or unwillingly.

Image Credits: L – RJ Bailey, R - stevegarfield (via Flickr)

Ultimately, no matter what we do online, our mania to tell can still leave us

vulnerable to Foucaultian regimentation – to the State, to our tribe, to ourselves.

But what enables this multi-directional flow of power in the online environment?

Image Credits: L – jurvetson, R – Lars Plougmann (via Flickr)

Web 2.0: The Empowering FactorPart Two – Citizen Activism

Image Credits: L – luc legay, R - xtof (via Flickr)

Networks are ubiquitous. They connect us. In the pre-Web days, we shared opinions

and “told all” through bulletin boards and newsgroups, the precursors to Web 2.0.

Image Credits: L – striatic, R - JenWaller (via Flickr)

Web pages and web sites came next on the road to Web 2.0, and remain popular.

They are generally easy to navigate, but do little to fuel online citizen activism.

Image Credits: L – DavidErickson, R – RafeB (via Flickr)

But it’s the knowledge revolution of raw data that’s the frontier of the Web today.

In fact, we’ve gone from a “Web of Documents” to a “Web of Data” –

abundant with powerful tools to “tell all”.

Image Credits: L – gadl, R - ecerverab (via Flickr)

The State wants to get inside our head. The corporations want to program us, while

the citizen wants to put the State and the Corporation on a choke chain.

Image Credits: L – Subterranean Tourist Board, R - tarale (via Flickr)

Web 2.0 pushes us into an exciting new sphere of interactivity, where we deal with data in

unprecedented and user-driven ways.

Tagging Tweeting Telling All

Image Credits: L – cambodia4kidsorg, C – hairfish, R - altemark (via Flickr)

“Tagging” to create “metadata” defines today’s online environment. It’s the most

brilliant thing about Web 2.0. You tag things to find them more easily later.

We create a world of popular knowledge.

Image Credits: L – Matthew Burpee, R – luc legay (via Flickr)

One of the most radical things about Web 2.0 is how users can generate, re-mix, and

share content themselves. In this new world, corporate intellectual

property “rights” are undermined.

Image Credits: L – PresleyJesus, R - qthomasbower (via Flickr)

More than ever, people are building online cultures of resistance. It’s a tug of war

between Habermas and Foucault.

Image Credits: L – Tom Raftery, R - ZardozSpeaks (via Flickr)

And so, we have weaved a Web of both creativity and control for all who access it.

The same new tools that emancipate us embolden the State and others to control

us, as we revert back to tribal warfare.

Image Credits: L – Brenda Anderson, C – luc legay, R - practicalowl (via Flickr)

Living Without Curtains TodayPart Three – Precarious Lives

Image Credits: L – Wayan Vota, R – Steve Rhodes (via Flickr)

“Living without curtains” means balancing risks and benefits, both for individuals and

the publics they represent. It often becomes an impossible task.

Image Credits: L – Capt Kodak, R – salendron (via Flickr)

Facebook, for example, is a great way to mobilize support for political causes.

But it also harvests personal data, placing unsuspecting users at risk of exposure to

an invasive culture of mass consumerism.

Image Credits: TL – Barack Obama, TR – billerickson, B – opensourceway (via Flickr)

Google, too, doesn’t always have all the answers, despite being so popular. In fact,

their “Don’t Be Evil” mantra has been compromised by censoring search results

at the Chinese government’s demand.

Image Credits: L – Mykl Roventine, R - charlesc (via Flickr)

Google Street View lets us see an address – even ski trails on a mountain! – up close. But if I can see your house, you can see mine. We want freedom, but this comes

with a price – the loss of privacy.

Image Credits: L – Josh Bancroft, R - zipckr (via Flickr)

YouTube is amazing for voicing our views. But without media literacy to assess the source and sort out the propaganda, it’s

little more than a babble of chatter.

Image Credits: L – IsraelMFA, R - freegazaorg (via Flickr)

And even when defiant publics start a revolution to hold the mass media and

governments accountable, the results don’t always shift the power dynamic.

Image Credits: L – 27389271, R - jblyberg (via Flickr)

But that means we have to try harder. For all its unrealized promises, something transformative is

happening thanks to Web 2.0.

Individuals are becoming more engaged with the fabric of society, while offside publics are gaining a voice

they never previously had.

The Web itself changes not through theory, but through usage. It has a strong democratic moment, but

remains subject to control by the State and by special interest groups.

Yet even if Web technologies continue to evolve in both futile and emancipatory ways, change will continue to

come about, slowly but surely.

“It’s coming through a crack in the wall...”

- Leonard Cohen, “Democracy”, 1992

Image Credits: C – Eileen Delhi (via Flickr)

Image Credits: creativecommons.org

For questions or comments, please contact:

Michael Dick, Research Associate: mdick@yorku.caDaniel Drache, Associate Director: drache@yorku.ca

Copyright © 2010 Some Rights Reserved

Living Without Curtains in the Age of Web 2.0