1.
Captured at Birth?
Presence, Privacy and Intimate
Surveillance
IR15: Boundaries and Intersections, Daegu 2014
Dr Tama Leaver, Curtin University
Department of Internet Studies
Centre for Culture and Technology
@tamaleaver

2.
Outline
1. (Co-)Creating Online
Identities
2. Shifting Surveillance
3. Negotiating Intimate
Surveillance
https://www.flickr.com/photos/49502995517@N01/1442680577 (CC BY NC)

3.
I. (Co-)Creating Online Identities

4.
The Networked Self / Networked Publics
• Persistence
• Replicability
• Scalability
• Searchability (boyd, 2010)
• + Ownership (Aufderheide, 2010)

5.
Identity 2.0
• In Perpetual Beta
• Networked
• (other) User-generated identity
• Distributed
• Indexed
• Persistent (Helmond, 2010)

6.
Web Presence
• Internet Footprints
• Digital Shadows
• Social Media Rivers
 From “user-generated content” to
“content-generated users.”
(Allen, 2009; Leaver, 2010)

7.
Shared assumptions
The Networked Self, Identity 2.0, & Web Presence
• Individual agency is central.
• Presumption that identity should be controlled, curated and managed by
the ‘self’ being presented.
• When agency is not the controlling influence, this is seen as an issue to be
overcome (eg better privacy settings).

8.
The ‘Real Name’ Web
Nowadays, however, the anonymity of the [early]
internet and the construction of online personas
that do not reflect offline identities have been
reconstructed as 'risk factors' of internet use …
Governments, schools, parents and other
concerned parties now routinely warn against
online imposters, bullying and identity theft, and
social network sites like Facebook or Google+
have policies requiring users to register with their
real names and data, and prevent them from
having more than one account. (Zoonen, 2013: 45)

9.
The Shift to Real Names (nymwars) …

10.
Parents as initial identity (co-)curators …
• Parents/guardians set the initial parameters of
online identity.
• From ultrasounds photos to cute toddler pics,
losing that first tooth etc …
• How do and should young people ‘inherit’
online identities?
• How ‘connected’ are online identities when
real names are enforced? (And how easily
would anonymity or pseudonymity minimise
this connectivity?)

11.
‘a rite of pregnancy’
The emergence of such social media
platforms as Facebook, Flickr, Instagram,
Twitter, Bundlr and YouTube facilitating
the sharing of images has allowed the
wide dissemination of imagery and
information about the unborn in public
forums. Indeed, sharing of the first
ultrasound photograph on social media
has become a rite of pregnancy for many
women.
(Lupton, 2013, p. 42)

12.
Parents: Framing Online Identities?

13.
II. Shifting Surveillance

14.
Broad(ening) Surveillance Culture
• CCTV, airport scanners, various forms of tracking.
• Government tracking (incl. NSA/Prism etc.).
• Corporate tracking (eg frequent flyers or corporate rewards cards).
• Social media surveillance, Facebook profiles and shadow profiles.
• Facial recognition in government, corporate and social media
tracking.

15.
But … Sousveillance
• Sousveillance as "inverse surveillance", countering/reversing organisational
surveillance with wearable devices and individuals surveying society and each
other (Mann, et al, 2002).
• Albrechtslund (2008): “social surveillance” as knowing play.
• E.J. Westlake (2008) goes a step further, arguing that just because a user’s
online performance and activity are being recorded performances can be entirely
false or misleading, subverting the effectiveness of even top-down surveillance.
• Sousveillance: organised watching of the watchers, such as organised groups
watching and reporting on Facebook’s practices (Fernabck 2013).

16.
Sousveillance as Material Resistance
CV Dazzle anti-facial recognition makeup
http://cvdazzle.com/

17.
Intimate Surveillance
• Beyond ‘peer surveillance’ which involves active agents (Andrejevic, 2005) .
• Intimate surveillance involves the purposeful (and almost always
well-intentioned) surveillance of young people by parents, guardians
and friends; the surveyed have little or no agency to resist
themselves.
• For example, the sharing of Facebook photographs of very young children (no
ability to request non-sharing, sometimes tagged with parent’s names,
sometimes their own; hence shadow profiles) and a realm of related practices.

18.
III. Negotiating Intimate Surveillance

19.
Normalising Infant Surveillance: Sprout Baby app

20.
Sprout Baby: Sleep

21.
Sprout Baby: Feeding

22.
Infants generating/becoming big data …
http://owletcare.com/

23.
#birth
• March 2014: 11876 items (11408 images; 468 videos)
• April 2014: 13085 (12538 images; 547 videos)
• May 2014: 5259 (12866 images; 582 videos)
• Total: 38409 (36812 images; 1597 videos)

24.
#ultrasound
• March 2014: 3619 items (3468 images; 151 videos)
• April 2014: 3975 (3847 images; 128 videos)
• May 2014: 3726 (3575 images; 151 videos)
• Total: 11320 (10890 images; 430 videos)

25.
#ultrasound 48hr snapshot
(focused on first Monday of each month)
• March: 289 images / 7 videos
• April: 331 images / 14 videos
• May: 373 images / 11 videos

26.
Types of images included in those 289 …
• Ultrasound humour: 8
• Social Experiences of
#Ultrasounds: 32
(eg travel to first scan)
• Collages/Professional Photos incl.
#ultrasounds: 32
(incl personal digital storytelling
collages).

27.
Ultrasounds with personally identifiable text
in the photo
• 71 photos (26% of the set) included
personally identifiable information in the
photo (usually generated by the ultrasound
equipment)
• Typically includes mother’s full name,
mother’s DOB, medical facility, estimated
gestation period to date, estimated due
date, date of the scan, etc.

28.
The shifting visibility of Instagram photos
Table 1. Instagram Timeline
16 October 2010 Instagram app launched via Apple’s App Store
12 December 2010 1 million registered users
3 August 2011 150 million photos uploaded
September 2011 10 million registered users
3 April 2012 Instagram releases Android version
9 April 2012 Facebook purchases Instagram for $US1 billion
26 July 2012 80 million registered users
16 August 2012 Instagram Photo Maps launched
5 November 2012 Instagram Profiles for the Web launched
5 December 2012 Instagram removes ability for photos to appear as ‘cards’ on Twitter
17 December 2012 Instagram Alters Terms of Use
18 December 2012 Instagram reverts to previous Terms of Use after public backlash
26 February 2013 100 million active monthly users
20 June 2013 Instagram adds video (15-seconds maximum)
10 July 2013 Instagram adds native web embedding for photos and videos
6 September 2013 150 million users
12 December 2013 Instagram Direct messaging service added
24 March 2014 200 million users
26 August 2014 Instagram/Facebook release Hyperlapse app via Apple App Store

29.
The Social Media Contradiction
a social media contradiction may arise where
users focus on the social elements – often acts of
communication and sharing which are thought of
as ephemeral and in the moment, comparable to
a telephone conversation – while the companies
and corporations creating these apps are more
focused on the media elements, which are
measurable, aggregatable, can be algorithmically
analysed in a variety of potentially valuable ways,
and can last indefinitely.
(Leaver & Lloyd, 2015)

30.
NB: Many positive uses of data tracking …
• Tracking and surveillance are not intrinsically negative, and can be incredibly
positive and useful.
• Big data tracking of prematurely born babies, using “software that captures and
processes patient data in real time, tracking 16 different data streams, such as
heart rate, respiration rate, temperature, blood pressure, and blood oxygen level,
which together amount to around 1260 points of data” revealed significant
diagnostic correlations, leading to very real health improvements (Mayer-
Schon̈berger & Cukier, 2013: 60-61).
• Well-managed and transparent tracking, with informed consent, often leads to
significant improvements across a range of fields.

31.
Tentative Conclusions
• Intimate surveillance normalises a surveillance culture facilitated by parents,
family and friends, almost always undertaken with good intentions.
• Better digital literacies about the uses (and potential abuses) of data and
metadata shared with apps, platforms and services are needed (informed uses
is the key). [NB: Raised in #selfies preconference.]
• More transparency is required about how data might be shared and used in all
contexts, especially commercial ones (including with third party apps!). [NB: The
‘Snappening’ or Dropbox password leak recently.]
• Social norms need to evolve regarding the sharing (and non-sharing) of data and
media generated about young people not just moral panics about data shared by
young people. [Negotiated at all levels, including at children’s birthday parties!]

32.
Questions or Comments?
www.tamaleaver.net
@tamaleaver
t.leaver@curtin.edu.au
References
• Albrechtslund, A. (2008). Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance. First Monday, 13(3).
Retrieved from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2142/1949
• Allen, M. (2009). Web Presence: Understanding persistent and interlinked content as the basis of
identity formation and promotion through the contemporary Internet, Communication, Creativity and
Global Citizenship: Australia and New Zealand Communications Association Annual Conference,
Brisbane.
• Andrejevic, M. (2005). The Work of Watching One Another: Lateral Surveillance, Risk, and Governance.
Surveillance & Society, 2(4), 479–497.
• Aufderheide, P. (2010). Copyright, Fair Use, and Social Networks. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A
Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 274-303). Routledge.
• boyd, danah. (2010). Social Network Sites and Networked Publics: Affordances, Dymanics and
Implications. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social
Network Sites (pp. 39-58). Routledge.
• Fernback, J. (2013). Sousveillance: Communities of resistance to the surveillance environment.
Telematics and Informatics, 30(1), 11–21. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2012.03.003
• Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Book.
• Helmond, A. (2010). Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software. www.annehelmond.nl,
PDF:
http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf
.
• Leaver, T. (2010) I tweet therefore I am? Challenges in learning identity by teaching web presence,
Teaching and Learning Forum, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup.
• Leaver, T., & Lloyd, C. (2015). Seeking Transparency in Locative Media. In R. Wilken & G. Goggin
(Eds.), Locative Media. London & New York: Routledge.
• Lupton, D. (2013). The Social Worlds of the Unborn. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
• Mann, S., Nolan, J., & Wellman, B. (2002). Sousveillance: Inventing and Using Wearable Computing
Devices for Data Collection in Surveillance Environments. Surveillance & Society, 1(3), 331–355.
• Mayer-Schonberger, ̈V., & Cukier, K. (2013). Big data: a revolution that will transform how we live, work,
and think. Great B: John Murray.
• Papacharissi, Z. (2010). Conclusion: A Networked Self. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self:
Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 304-318). Routledge.
• Westlake, E. J. (2008). Friend Me if You Facebook: Generation Y and Performative Surveillance. TDR:
The Drama Review, 52(4), 21–40.
• Zoonen, L. van. (2013). From identity to identification: fixating the fragmented self. Media, Culture &
Society, 35(1), 44–51. doi:10.1177/0163443712464557