The End of Geoprivacy

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Ever have the feeling that someone is spying on you? Today, it's more likely that you are broadcasting enough information thatanyone can spy on you. In the most recent issue of Wired magazine, freelance writer Mathew Honan recounts his "I am here"adventures of a "3-week experiment of living la vida local." Using all the new technology (software and hardware) especially iPhone apps, he demonstrates how easy it is to be constantly monitoring your environment electronically as well as for everybody to know where you are. For example, with the program WhoseHere, you can send your latitude and longitude location and instantly get responses from other people in the area. The responses, needless to say, range from "I'm looking for sex" to "Really great coffee shop." Other interesting revelations: "Because iPhones embed geodata into photos that users upload to Flickr or Picasa, iPhone shots can be automatically placed on a map." In other words, people will know exactly where you were when you took the picture. Interestingly,...
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Darryl (From “The Office”): Everyone is a Paparazzo?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
On this site and in my classes, we have talked a lot about the changes inpolitics and other parts of life and labor that easy Internet access, online social-interactive media, and the cell phone (with its picture, sound and video capture and upload capabilities) have occasioned. In politics, we know that the personal appearance is different because a politician never knows who in the audience might get them on video or record them in some other way and YouTube a quote or a rant or just a funny picture. Celebrities of other kinds--like athletes and entertainers--have always faced the dilemma of being "outed" while in private by paparazzi. Now in the same way that everyone is a potential journalist, everyone is also a potential paparazzo. What are the privacy rights of individuals anywhere--OUR GEOPRIVACY? Should ordinary fans or witnesses know or care? At a minimum, it is pretty clear that if a celebrity like, say, a star of a TV show, appears in...
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A-Rod Ethics

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Guest posted by Chris Nelson (KU student) for my class "Ethics & Media": The idea of this "steroid era" really started back in 1998 when Mark McGwireand Sammy Sosa were chasing Roger Maris' home run record of 61 in a single season, a record that was established in 1961. Everyone suspected that the sluggers, especially McGwire, were on something, but no one cared. The two men eventually chased down the record and continued to demolish it when McGwire hit number 70 on the last day of the season (Sosa ended with 66). Then along came Barry Bonds and his revamped body. In the early to mid '90s, Bonds was a lean base stealer who could also hit for power. After the 1998 season, it seemed that Bonds was jealous of the homer hype. This is when most suspect he started using. Bonds would end up breaking McGwire's record in 2001 with a total of 73 home runs. I know that records are made to be broken, but...
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Media Ethics: The Trials of Ted Haggard

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
In class, I screened the HBO Documentary, The Trials of Ted Haggard, about the "fallen" evangelist. The documentary raises some major issues about media ethics. 1. To what extent should someone making a documentary explain the context of an event? For example, we really don't learn much about the pastor's settlement with his church. 2. When a documentary focusses on one person, should we not also learn about other key characters? There is no in-depth interview with the man who had relations with the pastor. He just states his position and that's that. 3. Does the documentary filmmaker need to tell us "what side" she is on: is she making the pastor look bad, or just letting him talk without a point of view? Update on April 21, 2009 More on Pastor Ted's troubles. Originally posted April 14, 2009 at PolicyByBlog...
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