Essay

Since I’ve been uing this blog, I’ve gained knowledge and grasped the concept of web2.0. The topic of the essay I have completed is one I find interesting which makes it feel like worthwhile to carry out. I’ve found this module particularly interesting as I can practially apply my knowledge in the future. I’ve had my fair shares of ups and downs (look at about wordpress page) but in the end- no matter how hard it’s been, I’ve made an end result which is this blog! Please read and enjoy my 2000 word essay below!

Essay: What does privacy mean online?

To my surprise, while making this blog almost every application I added whether it’s a widget or slideshow, absolutely ANYONE can view and share my information from all walks of life. Every web2 application has the option to copy information, share information, download and save it onto your own desktop. Examples are visible in my blog: box.net file sharing, slide.com, rockyou, you tube, sonific etc- all have sharing files, copying and pasting codes viewable to everyone and anywhere you want.

Before beginning to discuss the amount of privacy on web2.0, I need to grasp completely the meaning of web2.0. A compact description Tim O’Reilly made outlines what wed2.0 actually is.

Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an “architecture of participation,” and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences.

Web2.0 has taken over the internet by force. My perception of web2 is sharing all sorts of information on the internet and building a large network. Across the internet, web2 applications and software are in use now and the concept of web2 applications has grown immensely since the term was coiled in 2001 by Tim O’Reilly.

The sheer volume of users using web2 applications is shocking. Web 2 creates an area for users to create the content on the internet, rather than the content being made and having going through the process of making it aware for people to notice. Web2 is far more flexible and easily accessible and shared with people at the click of a button.

This alone raised a massive issue of how much privacy do we actually have? Who has our personal information and who actually owns our own information? Is it us as individuals or does the internet own our information?

Popular web2 applications such as My Space, hi5, Digg, Face book etc is all very attractive to subscribe to. Without a thought in mind, we are happy to give personal information away to join something attractive. So why is it that, if someone makes a telesales call to your home- they ask a simple question like your age and we are reluctant to give an answer, Yet on the other hand, we don’t think this is a problem to give online? Hi5 a very successful web2.0 site is the 4th most visited site in Portugal with close to 900,000 unique visitors per month. Hi5 is open source where all details are entered by choice from the user and a big chunk of your personal data such as your age, height, hobbies interests etc, is in affect just given away.

I think it’s our own perception of how technology is and what is does. In my opinion, I think generally everyone has some knowledge on market research and how it is formed through offline marketing (telesales) and realise to some extent that your information is used and saved for market research. On the other hand, I think more people find it acceptable to happily give that information online possibly with a lack of awareness of what happens with that information, or there is a catch e.g. free entry to a competition to give your information away.

Just because we can’t physically see how our information is being used, it doesn’t mean that our information is kept private and safe. In reality, when we receive emails that coincidently interests us, do we not think how and why that information was sent and targeted to us?

How can we define privacy?

The term privacy can be used in so many ways, yet we apply it in different ways to what we know from our own knowledge. For instance, thousands of people upload videos on YouTube and are well aware of sharing there files but at the same time, they wouldn’t give out other sorts of information to companies.

Google bought You Tube recently for $1.6billion but what for? YouTube doesn’t require any payment from people and isn’t profit making in our eyes. Could the reason be because 65 thousand videos are uploaded everyday and 100 million people view videos everyday- which means access to millions of people’s data? To us as users, we think all these services are fun and great without realising what’s going on behind the scenes.

I’ve included this slideshow which I found nailed my point of what privacy we actually have and how we approach privacy. I’ve shown YouTube and Google in particular which are clearly one of the most established World Wide Web organisations which will help emphasise my point well.

It’s apparent to see the obvious changes from web1.0 to the new ‘buzzword’ web2.0- and clearly from all new web2 applications and software- in a nutshell they all have the internet and sharing in common.

Web2.0 makes it virtually impossible to stay private when the main focus is sharing! Privacy is far too broad to justify and there are many elements to privacy. Google have Gmail accounts and just from there another questions arises- Are our emails even private to us? We create passwords for our own personal use, but are they even private? The majority of websites have privacy policies, but it seems there is a contradiction of the term privacy and how it is applied.

On one hand, people are reluctant to share information, but on the other hand doesn’t sharing open up a whole host of opportunities and networking?

Is sharing a good thing?

In terms of business networking, web2.0 offers invaluable sharing opportunities which can be seen an excellent marketing tool and great way to expose a business. Socially, people go out and enjoy socialising with others and exchange information from the moment they meet. So what’s the difference online?

“Web 2.0 thrives on network effects: databases that get richer the more people interact with them, applications that are smarter the more people use them, marketing that is driven by user stories and experiences, and applications that interact with each other to form a broader computing platform.”

Sharing is the key which increases businesses awareness, and different ways for businesses to interact e.g. P2P- peer to peer networking where users are in direct contact with each other, files can be shared that are in their computers, and it doesn’t take a lot of time and effort to take a file you want such as music. The best thing about it is its free, user friendly and thousands of files are available to you at the click of a button.

I’ve included a presentation to show some peoples perception of sharing, people who think sharing is a good thing.

Tim O’Reilly coiled Web2.0 in 2001 after the fall of dot com where people began thinking the world wide web/web1.0 would come to an end. In actual fact this only led to the beginning to the next generation of technology of web2.0.

Taking Google as an example to show the extent of privacy we have, Tim O’Reilly believes Google are collecting our data to benefit us.

“…people seem to be ignoring far greater risks to our privacy that are in the hands of people far less scrupulous than Google. Our credit card company knows everything we buy — and sells that information to marketers; our phone company knows everyone we call — and sells that information to marketers; our supermarket knows what we buy and how often — and sells that information to marketers.”

“…Meanwhile, here’s Google, which is using the information it collects to build better services that we eagerly consume because they are useful to us, and yet we’re complaining about the risks of how much data they collect! At least Google’s harnessing that data for our benefit, while most of the other big data collectors are simply using it for their own.

…In short, it seems to me that Google is being held to a much higher standard than the rest of the world.”

Sine the movement from web1.0 to web2.0, the subject of where privacy is positioned and to what extent privacy is taken in account is becoming more apparent. I typed in ‘how much privacy do we have on the internet’ in Google with search results of 58,500,000 websites and articles. This shows clearly the extent to how much the topic of privacy is discussed and mentioned over the internet.

Our data is stored everywhere; companies like Google store our data and sell them on making millions in profit. Without realising, someone somewhere could make a complete database of our life and tell us our personality through picking up trends from colleted data. We may as well be walking with tattoos of our personal data on our foreheads viewable to everyone as this is how exposed our information really is. When we sign up to the forward thinking web2.0 applications, a lot requires a simple sign up- your email address, special offers you would like etc. We should be more aware of what actually happens with our information and to what extent to we draw the line.

Evidence where private information has been made available online
This report shows how personal data was made available accidentally online when URL’s containing personal data was leaked. This breach of privacy is serious and just states what exactly the data protection act done- nothing. I’ve shown this video to emphasise the issue of privacy and how it’s dealt.

Will web2 end your privacy?

Web2.0 offers an endless amount of networking software’s; applications etc which are attractive but where do the companies make money when there giving it us for free? The answer is collecting and selling your data. Every ounce of detail these ‘non profit’ making companies get, they sell your information on.

You’re probably thinking what has this got to do with ending your privacy. It’s precisely the web2 applications that make privacy almost impossible. The applications act in the same way- they look good, there easy to manage, you share information and they are free to join. Digg- a web2 site looks like a harmless site to join. It’s:

‘Unlike a traditional news publication, end users write the news that appears on Digg. News they’ve written, and news they like, is linked to their profile. Their profile is linked to the profiles of their friends, so that social groups can check out each others’ recommendations.’ Digg includes many features of web2 which is why I’ve taken this as an example. But the question is what does Digg know about you?
“Digg knows what stories you’ve submitted, what demographic you’re in, how other people in your demographic react to what you post’

Digg is worth over $20million, but why is it worth so much if it doesn’t make profit? The answer is simply selling your data to companies who want them.

Businesses using Web2.0

A business will probably be less concerned about privacy- as businesses themselves will want our information to target us as customers. As sharing information is a key feature on web2.0, this will have a positive impact on companies who want to network and market there business online. Making blogs, subscribing with RSS feeds- building up the page ranking in Google and search engines all ends with positive results from a company.

Web2 makes business networking ideal and now as it’s a great place to market a business. Its broadened peoples approach to the extent they can market and advertise, and more businesses are advertising online rather then traditional approaches. The impact of businesses moving online is printing companies could be put out of business, but in the business world- you go with what’s better for your company.

Concluding, it’s our own opinion to define what privacy means and how we apply it. There will always be two ways how we see privacy which is online and offline, and no matter how controlled we want our own privacy to be, we will always be willing to share certain data to strangers we meet in minutes. Where we draw the line of privacy is our own opinion, but on the other hand where we draw the line is not up to us- it’s up to the internet and large companies. So I’ll rephrase that and question where does the internet draw the line?

Take a look at this video I found on YouTube, it’s a nice summery to my point. I think this video shows clearly the impact of web2.0 as well as privacy.

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