Tag Archives: privacy

Digital Panopticism: Self-Discipline in the Information Age

February 18, 2015UncategorizedApple, Apps, Bentham, Data, Discipline, exercise, Food, Foucault, Health, information, Information Technology, iWatch, Meta-Data, Panopticon, privacy, Self-Discipline, Surveillancemartijn

In the space of a few years, concepts like meta-data and surveillance drones have become commonplace in news reports and public debate. While many of us are justifiably worried about information technology and privacy violations, we ourselves contribute to these observational practices on a daily basis. Facilitated by technological advances, it has become possible to monitor nearly every kind of human experience. Self-surveillance might well be the last piece in the puzzle.

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Australian Online Privacy and Civil Liberties Under Attack by the Government

July 30, 2012InternetAustralia, civil liberties, controversial changes, getup, government, intelligence, Nicola Roxon, Online, privacy, surveillance lawsmartijn

The Australian government is considering the most sweeping and radical changes to its surveillance and intelligence laws since the establishment of the original powers in 1979. Access to citizens’ information is topical in Australia, with concerns over potential terrorist use of the internet resulting in legislation facilitating easier access to stored communications, forcing ISPs to collect internet traffic data in real-time, and make it available to police in Australia and law enforcement agencies in foreign countries for up to 30 days. GetUp has together an informative video to explain the changes. Watch the video below and sign the petition asking to withdraw the Government’s support for these controversial changes to surveillance laws.

Online Privacy: Terms and Conditions in Five Bullet Points Please

February 29, 2012Internet, Politics, Society, Software, Technology, Worldapplications, corporates, Facebook, Google, governments, information, infringement, Online, PIPA, privacy, SOPA, terms and conditions, twitter, web historymartijn

“Time is running out to clear your browsing history before Google’s new privacy policies come into force!” Countless blogs and websites rang the warning bell on Google’s latest evil ploy to gather every single piece of information on individuals using their services. The URL to Google’s web history was eagerly re-tweeted and visited, in what seemed to be a true online civil action against the violation of privacy. But to what extend is the latest online privacy outrage justifiable?

Although the Google web history madness seemed to constitute a moment of communal outrage, I am quite certain that only a relatively small number of the stupendous amount of individuals that use the Google search engine on a daily basis are aware of this matter at all. I am also fairly certain that a substantial amount of the people that re-tweeted and spread the news about Google web history did so simply because of the appeal of the header “Clear your Google Web History before the big privacy change!” Continue reading Online Privacy: Terms and Conditions in Five Bullet Points Please →