Privacy, Facebook and the Californian Ideology

Facebook, privacy and the Californian Ideology
Kate Raynes-Goldie
Internet Studies, Curtin University

What’s really going on with Facebook and privacy?

Facebook wants to make money
Facebook wants to make the world more open and connected

"Facebook intends to improve the flow and quality of information shared between people, to actually improve communication and relationships. Facebook wants to broadly improve a fundamental human activity - and why not?" Karel Baloun ( Inside Facebook ) ) )

Pushing the envelope

“ I think we take it for granted that four years ago when Facebook was getting started, most people didn’t want to put any information about themselves on the internet, right? So we got people through this really big hurdle of not wanting to put up their full name, or real picture, mobile phone number, connections to real people...” Mark Zuckerberg ( Web 2.0 Summit , 2008) , 2008) , 2008)

"Zuckerberg believes that Facebook is truly making the world better." Sarah Lacy ( Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good ) ) )

Philosophy and ideology embedded in the modern internet

The Californian Ideology
cybernetics
technological utopianism
libertarianism

Everything is a system
We are all one, everything is connected
Merging of the atomic and the digital
Beliefs about the world

Flattened hierarchies
Transparency, openness
Efficiency in communication
In Facebook

Conversion of the ephemeral world into data

What does this mean for privacy?

Context collision
Loss of identity management
Friendship as a privacy control
Social privacy

Data mining
Targeted advertising
Loss of control of personal data
Institutional privacy

Profit, free market capitalism and friends like these

Peter Thiel
‘way Libertarian’ technoutopian venture capitalist
PayPal
The Stanford Review
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence

Peter Thiel
Early investor
Board of Directors
5.2%-7% of Facebook

“ In the 2000s, companies like Facebook create the space for new modes of dissent and new ways to form communities not bounded by historical nation-states. By starting a new Internet business, an entrepreneur may create a new world. The hope of the Internet is that these new worlds will impact and force change on the existing social and political order.” Peter Thiel ( Cato Unbound , 2009)

Privacy is a commodity
Privacy gets in the way of being open and connected

Facebook will never care about privacy

Thanks @oceanpark [email_address] [email_address] [email_address] [email_address]

Privacy, Facebook and the Californian Ideology

by Kate Raynes-Goldie on Aug 26, 2011

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Privacy, Facebook and the Californian Ideology — Presentation Transcript