When it comes to what ought to be considered private online, there are no industry standards nor government regulations setting baseline protections for U.S. consumers.
Nature abhors a vacuum. Search, social media and mobile cloud companies, led by Google and Facebook, have moved in to fill the void with privacy policies and user agreements that define online privacy in a way that fuels their billion-dollar business models.
This phenomenon caught the attention of filmmaker Cullen Hoback, who spoke with CyberTruth about his new documentary, Terms and Conditions May Apply.
CT: What inspired you to make this documentary?
Hoback: I had a concern about how technology was changing us. Almost everything in our digital lives comes with a set of terms and conditions, which is really just a legally binding contract designed to take away our rights, and more specifically, our privacy. Of course, terms and conditions are meant to not be read, so perhaps the greatest civil liberties issue of our times, the destruction of the 4th Amendment, is intentionally hidden in endless fine print.
CT: What surprised you most doing the film?
Hoback: I'm still surprised by the real world cases in the film, where perfectly innocent people have their lives upended due to the government's spy system. Make a bad joke on Facebook or Twitter? SWAT could be at your house in hours.
CT: What were some obstacles you faced?
CT: What were some obstacles you faced?
Hoback: Facebook or Google refused to talk on camera about the privacy concerns associated with their business models. After repeated attempts to talk with anyone at their companies, and repeat rejection, I took matters into my own hands and went to Mark Zuckerberg's house with cameras to see if he really doesn't care about privacy. You may have heard, but he has now purchased all the homes surrounding his own.
CT: Are you happy with the reception so far?
Hoback: The reception has been overwhelming and interest in the topic seems to be growing.
Hoback: The reception has been overwhelming and interest in the topic seems to be growing.
CT: What is the big take away you hope the audience comes away with?
Hoback: After people see Terms and Conditions I think there is a mixture of anger, fear, and a general sense that we've been duped. I think people immediately want others to see the film, because awareness is the first step to solving the privacy nightmare. Everyone knows what Edward Snowden did, but I think that Terms and Conditions answers why Edward Snowden did what he did. I also hope they visit trackoff.us and join the movement for social change on this issue.
CT: Anything else?
Hoback: I think we have a right to know and a right to control what info a company has on us. Personal data shouldn't be considered the property of the company, it should be property of the user. We should have a right to know what info a company has stored on us, and a right to take that info, or delete that info as we see fit, because ultimately personal data is us in 1's and 0's. If you are able to know everything about a person, you have power over that person. This is why the right to privacy is so important.
Source : USA TODAY
Image : TACMA
