Difference between revisions of "Privacy in public"

From SI410
Jump to: navigation, search
(Data Mining)
Line 25: Line 25:
 
===Surveillance and Privacy===
 
===Surveillance and Privacy===
  
Privacy in Public is a right to be respected. If a human does not wish to share his or her personal details, then those pieces of information should be left private.  
+
Privacy in Public is a right to be respected. If a human does not wish to share his or her personal details, then those pieces of information should be left private. Some personal information surrounding an individual typically becomes public information once they leave their private residence and enter the public domain. What car one drives, what clothes and brands someone wears, their marital status, spoken language, and physical appearance can lend a great deal of information to who you are as a person. Income can be estimated, individual location can be ascertained, and physical identity can be described based on watching an individual walk from their house to their car. Though this might not be an accurate reading, it is a breach of privacy that most humans forgo by existing outside of their personal dwellings. Is being recorded a breach of privacy one overlooks or simply dismissed in order to watch a sporting event live? As Shoemaker says, “it  is  no  wonder  that  most  of  us have reason  to  object  to  the  sort of  profiling  produced  by  data mining.  That  a  stranger  may  come  to  know  our  flaws is mortifying.” He continues, “when  it  comes  to  the  exposure  of  ourselves,  most  of  us prefer that our selves be the ones doing the exposing.” <ref name= Shoemaker> </ref> It is a matter of autonomy and control at the root of the numerous violations of privacy in public.
 
+
Though, it is compelling to think that some things about a person are deemed public information the minute they step out of their house. What car you drive, what clothes and brands you wear, your marital status, your spoken language, and your physical appearance can lend a great deal of information to who you are as a person. Your income can be estimated, your location can be ascertained, and your physical identity can be described based on watching someone walk from their house to their car. Though this might not be an accurate reading, it is a breach of privacy that most humans forgo by existing outside of their personal dwellings.
+
 
+
If there were driver-less cars with cameras constantly on-- scanning, recording, and watching-- then this action of walking from the house to the car might be a prime source of data collection for the greater autonomous car parent company. This form of surveillance is a breach of privacy that one assumes when purchasing an autonomous car.
+
 
+
But what about when attending a football game? Viewing a sport inside an arena subjects one to all sorts of gazes, yet perhaps one (or more) of those sets of eyes is a camera? Is being recorded a breach of privacy one overlooks or dismisses simply to see a sports game live? As Shoemaker says, “it  is  no  wonder  that  most  of  us have reason  to  object  to  the  sort of  profiling  produced  by  data mining.  That  a  stranger  may  come  to  know  our  flaws is mortifying.” He continues, “when  it  comes  to  the  exposure  of  our selves,  most  of  us prefer that our selves be the ones doing the exposing.” <ref name= Shoemaker> </ref> It is a matter of autonomy and control at the root of the numerous violations of privacy in public.
+
  
 
==References==
 
==References==

Revision as of 07:54, 9 April 2019

P
rivacy in public is the idea of small-scale intimacy existing in a larger context or background. Some examples of this concept are social media, smartphone use, public surveillance, and facial recognition scanning. These examples emphasize the shrinking world we live in, and maintain the fear that “Big Brother is always watching,” even in the most private of places.

Applications

Data Mining

In David Shoemaker's 2009 paper, Self-exposure and Exposure of the Self: Informational Privacy and the Presentation of Identity, he explains the “puzzle” of privacy in public with reference to data mining. He states that data miners draw on bits of publicly available information, such as social media data reveals or public records. These data miners are seen as unethical by informational subjects who believe their privacy has been violated because their personal data has been taken out of context and packaged into a data sets portraying their digital identity. [1] [2] In conclusion, data mining is the process by which existing data is analyzed in order to create new data which relies on preexisting personal data sets widely available in public. [3]

Social Media

One way that this public data comes to exist is through social media. Social media is the collection of the social network sites that engage people through user accounts via the internet. Some examples are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These accounts can be “private” or “public” as decided by the user. It is important to note that all information posted on these websites are voluntarily supplied by the user. While not every account is publicly accessible, all information supplied to these sites is accessible in some way.

Social media use is an example of a public in privacy. Facebook is a public domain where users voluntarily share their personal thoughts or stories through posts. Accessing this public sphere in a private setting, such as using a phone or personal computer, deems social media a public available in privacy. Therefore, the information that is posted to Facebook is public data, thus making it a target for data mining. For example, data miners might be interested in how many Facebook users between the ages of 18 and 25 are “in a relationship.” The discussion of data mining, with respect to public data, is often masked by the crime-prevention veil of public surveillance.

Public Surveillance

Public surveillance is the idea that your privacy is ignored in public settings. A few examples of this are facial recognition at the Superbowl[4], fingerprint scanning at Disney World,[5] and public collections of phone numbers and email addresses through retail store databases. [1]. Public surveillance, however, is a (violation of) privacy in public. Private and personal details, such as eye color, fingerprints, telephone number, and address can all be accessed publicly, in a public setting, such as Disney World or a football stadium. This is where technology jumps to the unethical side.

Ethics

Surveillance and Privacy

Privacy in Public is a right to be respected. If a human does not wish to share his or her personal details, then those pieces of information should be left private. Some personal information surrounding an individual typically becomes public information once they leave their private residence and enter the public domain. What car one drives, what clothes and brands someone wears, their marital status, spoken language, and physical appearance can lend a great deal of information to who you are as a person. Income can be estimated, individual location can be ascertained, and physical identity can be described based on watching an individual walk from their house to their car. Though this might not be an accurate reading, it is a breach of privacy that most humans forgo by existing outside of their personal dwellings. Is being recorded a breach of privacy one overlooks or simply dismissed in order to watch a sporting event live? As Shoemaker says, “it is no wonder that most of us have reason to object to the sort of profiling produced by data mining. That a stranger may come to know our flaws is mortifying.” He continues, “when it comes to the exposure of ourselves, most of us prefer that our selves be the ones doing the exposing.” [1] It is a matter of autonomy and control at the root of the numerous violations of privacy in public.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Shoemaker, David W. "Self-exposure and Exposure of the Self: Informational Privacy and the Presentation of Identity." Ethics and Information Technology 12, no. 1 (2009): 3-15. doi:10.1007/s10676-009-9186-x.
  2. Stanford University Press Privacy In Context Hellen Nissenbaum 2009
  3. "What Is Data Mining?" SAS. Accessed March 15, 2019. https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/analytics/data-mining.html.
  4. Woodward, John D., Super Bowl Surveillance: Facing Up to Biometrics. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2001. https://www.rand.org/pubs/issue_papers/IP209.html.
  5. Mathews, Devante. "Walt Disney World Now Requires Biometric Finger Scan for Children!" Orlando Tickets, Hotels, Packages. August 30, 2016. https://www.orlando-florida.net/walt-disney-world-now-requires-biometric-finger-scan-children/