The Townshend Chronicles

This module is about control - who has it, who doesn’t, who wants it, and why it matters.

Information Control - why it matters

Dr. Halavais points out in his lecture that control over information means control over resources and, ultimately, over the distribution of power. In the United States, power is supposed to be in the hands of the many. Yet there is money to be made in controlling informational resources, and, as we have seen time and again, business (sometimes with governmental partnership) will do what it takes to exploit and control informational resources, whether or not it benefits the general welfare of the citizenry.

With that in mind, we, as interactive communicators, must do what we can to keep control of the Internet from moving from the hands of the many to the hands of the few.

Control over net neutrality

“Freedom of connection with any application to any party is THE fundamental social basis of the Internet; and now, it is the basis of the society we have built on the Internet.” Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Human Lobotomy, Second Draft.

According to the cautionary scenario laid out in the video Human Lobotomy, Second Draft, there is a war of control being waged over who may access the Internet in the future. Blame the phone companies. It is postulated that phone companies are out to control over not only the wires that bring Internet into your home, but the content that comes in and out on those wires, charging based on the size - possibly even the content - of those files, thus discouraging consumer created content.

This isn’t without historical precedent. A printing press was cheap back in the day. It’s low price encouraged the pamphleteers of Colonial America to start a revolution that created a nation where freedom of speech is still considered a basic human right.

“Once commercialized, newspapers became a one-directional medium, no longer benefiting from the contributions of everyone.”

Radio in its early days was cheap, too. Anyone could be a “broadcaster.” It encouraged diverse voices to speak freely on topics such as religion and politics. It too was choked off when commercial business entities and the federal government managed to wrestle control from the many to the few. This was capped off by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which deregulated broadcast television and radio to the point where only a few companies today create and distribute commercial content.

As that has happened, however, I see that the rise of the Internet has followed the slow decline of the broadcast industry. Internet - the wild west of communications - where consumer content rules and where, if we are not careful to learn from the history of our legacy media - control of this space by the many could be lost to the few.

And if we lose this net neutrality fight with the Internet today or in the near future, I do believe that humans will again someday find new ways to again create and distribute consumer content on a mass scale.

Only it will be my great grandchildren doing the creating, because it will take that long for the historical cycle to come around again - if we don’t change it.

Control over personal information - it’s in your hands!

The CNBC program “Big Brother” points out that there exists a vast store of personal information amassed by business on every consumer in the industrialized world - which, for the most part, is everybody. Where I have traveled, where and with whom I have lived, where I like to shop, how many children I have, how much debt I have incurred - all that and more out there and someone, somewhere, is figuring out how to use it to get my to buy a particular product or to sell a piece of real estate or to invest in a new company.

It is commonly called marketing.

For businesses to market to me, there needs to be an initial exchange of information at some point. Professor Solove from George Washington University pointed out in the CNBC program that “a lot of the purposes for gathering the information are quite benign. What’s bad is the fact that the person whose information is being collected is so out of the loop.” The fact is, I provided - as did all of you - the information that is the basis for businesses to market to me.

What’s in it for me? I get the week’s specials without clipping coupons, ten cents off each gallon of gas and easy check cashing privileges. What’s in it for, say, Stop & Shop? Through their customer card, they have a dossier on me that indicates my regular food buying patterns. They know which of their stores I go to, how often. They keep the food I want in stock and fresh.

The truth is that I willingly and knowingly gave up control of some of my information in exchange for the aforementioned privileges. I’m fine with this, so long as I know ahead of time what my information is going to be used for.

Ultimately it is up to me - to each of us as individuals - to decide how much we wish to reveal to business and government and for what reasons.

For example, when my daughter entered kindergarten in 1996, her school requested her Social Security number be listed on her emergency information card. I refused to provide that information. Each year for many years that followed, I was required to ask for special exemption from providing this information. Why, I asked, did they need it? Turns out, they didn’t REALLY need it. Today, that information is no longer requested by the Wallingford School System, but I still wonder why so many other parents so willingly and with out question provided this information - and where that information might be today.

In other words, while my information may be out there about how much Tab I buy and what kind of cereal I like, my daughter’s Social Security number remains under my control - and that of the federal government.

Which gets to the heart of the control issue - what does the government know, who is telling them, and what are they going to do with the information once they know? I have serious concerns about the government going through my cell phone bills without probable cause and, again, without my knowledge.

Use GPS to track where I’ve taken a rental car - fine. Just TELL ME! Taking my picture in a store? Just let me know. (If fact, most stores do post this information, if you look carefully for it). Oh, and don’t show me later - chances are I haven’t combed my hair!

What ethics bring

“Behaving ethically, in a personal or professional sphere, is not usually a burden…If ethical rules are good ones, they work for people. That is, they make our lives better.” S. Baase, Professional Ethics and Responsibilities. Gifts of fire: Social, Legal and ethical issues in computing.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed this review of ethical standards and a good overview of business ethics which could be applicable outside the area of computing, I found it lacking, for no where was it mentioned the simple rule that I use when faced with ethical uncertainties: The Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. That is, when faced with the most difficult of ethical or moral challenges, I assess the situation based upon established law, employer policy, advice from trusted colleagues, and a reversal of roles. If there is one thing I have learned from my many years on this earth, it’s that doing the right thing isn’t always the most convenient, or easiest path to take - but it is the one that allows me to sleep at night, and that one, that, in the end, I’ll be happiest to tell me children and grandchildren about, secure in the knowledge that I always tried to do what was right, not just for me, but for all involved.

That’s not to say that my personal and professional ethical codes are the right ones for anyone else. They are just right for me, though, and go a long way to helping establish my professional credibility. That is, but doing what I say I’ll do, doing it on time, on budget and producing a product that is at least as good (if not better) than expected, I have the ultimate control over my professional life, where ever it may lead me.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.