CI 5475 Week 3.1 - Web2.0 Tools and Privacy Implications

In their yearly iteration of the popular iPod Nano media player, Apple has included yet another feature into the already feature-filled, micro-sized device - the capability to record high resolution video AND audio:



Although this device is welcomed by individuals of the younger generations that live extremely transparent lives and possess the need to be "always on," (just look at who is being targeted in the above advertisement!), other individuals are concerned about the privacy implications that such pocket-sized recording technology creates (Richardson, 5). After all, let's face it... iPods are EVERYWHERE! Students bring them into schools. Employees bring them into work. And overall, many, many members of society navigate their entire day with an iPod somewhere on their persons, whether they are technically "allowed" to possess them or not. Now, anywhere penetrable by an iPod (which is of course pretty much everywhere due to its size) will also be exposed to being captured on video; a prospect that many institutions and individuals are not comfortable with (e.g., banks, government, and overall, any location with sensitive material).

To exemplify some of the privacy implications that this technology creates, please view the bellow article titled "New iPod Nano, equipped with video camera, might not be welcome at Twin Cities gyms" as printed in the St. Paul Star Tribune:

http://www.twincities.com/ci_13370880?nclick_check=1

However, having a high quality video camera on your person at any given time is not without its advantages. For example, in the case of the ethnography scenario that we discussed in class last week, students could travel around their communities and gather information in the form of extremely immerse interviews, guided tours, and the like. In the case of general citizens possessing iPods with video capabilities, crime would much more likely be caught "on tape" and used for judicial purposes.

In short, this type of technology is going to continue to get smaller, faster, cheaper, and overall more accessible to the masses. As this news article already exemplifies, the implications of such technology run directly counter to many, many norms on which our current society is built, with privacy being a big example.

So, the question becomes, HOW, specifically, do we as not only educators, but citizens, CONSTRUCTIVELY deal with this tension?