MichaelZimmer.org

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

Author: Michael Zimmer

Thoughts on Privacy and the Google Book Settlement

Posted by on in Events, Information Ethics, Libraries, Privacy, Search Engines

I shared my thoughts on privacy and the Google Book Settlement at the “Google Books Settlement and the Future of Information Access” conference organized by the UC-Berkeley School of Information. My remarks focused on my desire to trust Google when they say they're "thinking hard" about these issues and promise to "protect readers' privacy rights", while noting their track record is reason enough to cause us some pause, which is why we're pushing so hard as advocates on these vital concerns.

NSF Grant: Internet Research and Ethics 2.0

Posted by on in Internet, Internet Research Ethics5 Comments

Congratulations to Elizabeth Buchanan and Charles Ess for being awarded an NSF grant to create a much-needed repository and advisory board to address the challenges that emerging Internet and Web 2.0 platforms are placing on research ethics. I'm thrilled to…

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IMG MGMT: The Nine Eyes of Google Street View

Posted by on in Privacy, Search Engines, Values In Design1 Comment

The art blog Art Fag City recently published a brilliant and insightful photo essay by Jon Rafman, titled "IMG MGMT: The Nine Eyes of Google Street View". Through text and Street View images, Rafman critically interrogates the gaze of Street View, exposing the ways in which it frames our view of the world, while at the same time constraining it. In the post are some of the more compelling Street View images he has found, along with his closing remarks.

How to Adjust your Facebook Privacy Settings – 2009 Edition

Posted by on in Privacy, Social Media15 Comments

Last year, as part of Milwaukee's 2008 OneWebDay celebration, I posted guidelines to help users adjust their Facebook privacy settings. This has been one of the most visited pages on my blog. Now that we're getting ready for the 2009…

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New book: Contours of Privacy

Posted by on in Privacy, Professional, Publications, Values In Design

I few years ago I presented a paper at the “Countours of Privacy: Social, Psychological and Normative Perspectives” conference in Ottawa, sponsored by Members of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada research group and their “On the Identity Trail: Understanding the Importance and Impact of Anonymity and Authentication in a Networked Society” research project. I'm thrilled to announce that, after a peer review process and the hard work of David Matheson, a collection of papers from this conference has been published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in an edited volume, "Contours of Privacy".

Will Google Use “Editorial Discretion” to Exclude Books from Book Search?

Posted by on in Information Ethics, Privacy, Search Engines5 Comments

[Note: please be sure to read the comments with responses from Google's Alexander Macgillivray] Joris van Hoboken recently brought this section of the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement to my attention: Section 3.7(e) Google’s Exclusion of Books Google may, at…

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The Public Index: A Website to Study and Discuss the Google Book Search Settlement

Posted by on in Information Ethics, Privacy, Search Engines

New York Law School professor (and fellow Yale ISP alum), James Grimmelmann, has launched The Public Index: A Website to Study and Discuss the Google Book Search Settlement. From his announcement: The Public-Interest Book Search Initiative at New York Law…

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