January 2008 – MichaelZimmer.org

The Illusion of “Private” Web Content

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 24, 2008in Privacy, Social Media2 Comments

Millions of Web 2.0 users share their personal information, photos, bookmarks, and lives online. And, of course, various concerns arise about the fact that so much (what was once considered) private information is being publicly shared with anyone with an…

Audiovisual Search: Regulatory Challenges for Audiovisual Abundance

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 24, 2008in Events, Search Engines1 Comment

Last fall I had the pleasure of participating in a “Forum on Quaero: A public think tank on the politics of the search engine” hosted by the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, Netherlands. My talk at that event outlined…

Ethics, Technology and Identity

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 24, 2008in Events, Social Media

Speaking of my colleague Noëmi Manders-Huits, she is organizing an amazing looking conference on Ethics, Technology and Identity in Delft this June: Information technology plays an increasingly important role in society and in human lives. Identity Management Technologies (e.g. biometrics,…

The Challenges of the Values Advocate

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 23, 2008in Privacy, Search Engines, Values In Design2 Comments

When Ask.com launched AskEraser, a new service which promises to protect user privacy by, upon request, deleting users’ search activity from Ask.com servers, I applauded the effort, but also pointed out some of its shortcomings. The privacy advocacy group EPIC,…

Frontline: Growing Up Online

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 22, 2008in Privacy, Social Media

I'm sitting in a hotel room in New Haven, trying to finish an article for First Monday, but then I received a call from my wife suggesting I turn on PBS, as Frontline is airing an amazing report on "Growing…

The Role of Information Ethics in Education

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 21, 2008in Information Ethics, Teaching

The Information Ethics special interest group of the Association for Library and Information Science Education has released a statement on information ethics designed to guide library educators and educational institutions in integrating information ethics in all aspects of education, research,…

Link Dump: January 20, 2008

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 20, 2008in Privacy

Holidays, travel, deadlines, start of semester...plenty of excuses for my lapse in blogging. Here are some quick links of important stories I can't provide detailed comments on right now. January 28, 2008 is Data Privacy Day US intelligence agencies are…

Yale ISP Reading Group: Technology, Law, Society, Values and Design

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 19, 2008in Information Law & Policy, Privacy, Social Media, Values In Design

This spring I am running a reading group at the Yale Information Society Project (but open to all) titled "Technology, Law, Society, Values and Design." The description and draft syllabus are below -- comments and suggestions are welcome! Technology, Law,…

Yale Information Society Project Resident Fellowships for 2008-2009

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 17, 2008in Professional

Reminder: The deadline for applications to be a fellow at the Yale Information Society Project for 2008-2009 academic year is February 1. Scholars outside of law are welcome (this year, the number of communication and STS PhDs heavily outnumber the…

Privacy Protection in the Network Society: “Trading Up” or a “Race to the Bottom”?

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 16, 2008in Information Law & Policy, Privacy, Publications1 Comment

In many of my recent presentations on privacy and information policy, I've drawn on differences in the legal and regulatory frameworks applied to the flows of personal information in the United States compared to the European Union. In short, the…