Privacy as Commodity

March 29, 2012

http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/mar/23/di

vorcing-google/

Divorcing Google

Surrendering privacy is the cost of admission

privacy has been commodified and we surrender it for all sorts of things because there’s a benefit to doing so.

Balancing Sociality vs. Privacy

Sociality has always required some (voluntary) abandonment of privacy. In order to become social, we must give up some of our private time and space, so as to share it with others. (Papacharissi)

Balancing Sociality vs. Privacy

This balance between privacy and sociality has always existed; what is upsetting to many users is that it now rests upon a social plane that digitally records, archives, and tracks social behaviors by default.

(Papacharissi)

Privacy as Commodity

All Web–accessible platforms, offer services, mostly social, in exchange for personal information. This simple step, taken by many, transforms our personal information into currency, and our privacy into a commodity. (Papacharissi)

Privacy as Commodity

Slowly, privacy defined as the right to be left alone attains the characteristics of a luxury commodity, in that

1. it becomes a good inaccessible to most

2. it is disproportionately costly to the average individual’s ability to acquire and retain it, and

3. it becomes associated with social benefits inversely, in that the social cost of not forsaking parts of one’s privacy in exchange for information goods and services (e–mail accounts free–of–charge, online social networking) places one at a social disadvantage. (Papacharissi)

The Privacy Divide

…what renders privacy a luxury commodity is that obtaining it implies a level of computer literacy that is inaccessible to most, and typically associated with higher income and education levels, and certain ethnic groups, in ways that mirror dominant socio–demographic inequalities (Hargittai, 2008). As a luxury commodity, the right to privacy, afforded to those fortunate enough to be Internet–literate becomes a social stratifier; it divides users into classes of haves and have–nots, thus creating a privacy divide. (Papacharissi)

What do we do?

The goal for regulation is to effectively turn privacy into a normal good — a good that everyone may afford, or even better, a public good. A regulatory solution to the privacy divide must address market factors that render privacy a luxury commodity.

(Papacharissi)

Your blogs today…

Get in small groups and chat about your answer to today’s question:

Write a post that describes the key points of this week's readings (in your opinion). Conclude by giving your own take on privacy, and make sure to refer to the readings.

Cory Doctorow

Facebook, Privacy, & Kids

Next week…

So, if we don’t have much agency in the landscape of social media, how can users claim agency over our media production in the landscape of copyright laws?