MichaelZimmer.org

Michael Zimmer, PhD, is a privacy and data ethics scholar at Marquette University

Author: Michael Zimmer

Facebook’s Zuckerberg: “Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity”

Posted by on in Privacy, Social Media119 Comments

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has a history of speaking his mind on privacy, and what he speaks is often fraught with problems, ignorance, and arrogance. But, today, I found a new statement that brings Zuckerberg's hubris to a new level: “Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.” According to Zuckerberg, the person responsible for the world's most popular website for sharing information about oneself, wanting to manage your flows of information in such a way that might present a different version of your "complete" self to your friends, family, co-workers, and more distant friends shows a lack of integrity. Zuckerberg must have skipped that class where Jung and Goffman were discussed...

Another Facebook Exec Talks About Privacy; Another Set of Gross Misunderstandings

Posted by on in Privacy, Social Media2 Comments

In an attempt to stem the rising outrage over its most recent round of privacy failures — Instant Personalization & Connections — Facebook's vice president for public policy, Elliot Schrage, answered readers questions at The New York Times's Bits blog. As with other corporate expressions of Facebook's approach to privacy, his answers reveal a gross misunderstanding of the nature of privacy in our (social) networked world.

What Happens to Your Facebook Data When You Leave? (Updated)

Posted by on in Privacy, Social Media8 Comments

Like many, I am considering leaving Facebook due to its most recent round of privacy failures -- Instant Personalization & Connections -- which represent only the latest in a continuing de-evolution of privacy protection on the popular social networking platform.…

Read More What Happens to Your Facebook Data When You Leave? (Updated)

Anthony Hoffmann on the Twitter-Library of Congress Deal: Privacy, Representation, Culture, Research Ethics

Posted by on in Information Ethics, Internet Research Ethics, Privacy, Social Media

Anthony Hoffmann, a UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies PhD student, has posted an excellent analysis of the Twitter-Library of Congress deal, in 4 parts, at his blog: Part I: Intro and Privacy Roundup: Hoffmann discusses how the LoC acquisition of…

Read More Anthony Hoffmann on the Twitter-Library of Congress Deal: Privacy, Representation, Culture, Research Ethics

More Details on Twitter-Library of Congress Deal

Posted by on in Privacy, Social Media2 Comments

While my Freedom of Information Act request to the Library of Congress requesting a copy of its agreement with Twitter remains unanswered, interviews with Library personnel at The American Prospect and Ars Technica provide us some insight into the nature of the agreement and the plans for the data.

How Your Private Tweets Might Be Included in the Library of Congress Public Archive

Posted by on in Privacy, Social Media2 Comments

Today's announcement that the Library of Congress will be archiving all public tweets since March 2006 prompts many questions. But most people, I suspect, are comfortable with the concept since the LOC is only archiving public tweets; those who decided…

Read More How Your Private Tweets Might Be Included in the Library of Congress Public Archive

Open Questions about Library of Congress Archiving Twitter Streams

Posted by on in Privacy, Social Media5 Comments

The Library of Congress tweeted today that they are acquiring the entire archive of public Twitter activity since March 2006. While the LOC stresses that they're doing this for historical and scholarly reasons, there are major implications regarding the privacy and contextual expectations of Twitter users. Now, suddenly, all their tweets are being archived by the world's largest library. Yes, the tweets were always public and discoverable, but the searchability and accessibility will increase drastically if/when the LOC processes this archive. Due to these concerns, there are some vital questions that must be addressed prior to implementing such an expansive archive of public Twitter activity.