MichaelZimmer.org

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

Category: Platforms

Open Questions Remain in Facebook Censorship Flap

Posted by on in Information Ethics, Social Media2 Comments

Facebook has provided only a generic comment noting that the gay-kiss image was removed in error. But many unanswered questions remain. Critical questions, indeed, considering the cruel dichotomy of Facebook's mission to "[Give] people the power to share and make the world more open and connected" and its unquestioned power to control the platform, and thus the conditions under which people are allowed to share.

Libraries as Freedom of Information Gazebos

Posted by on in Events, Libraries1 Comment

I recently attended the 9th annual Information Ethics Roundtable hosted by the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science. This year's theme was "Human Rights as Information Rights,"and featured a great collection of papers. I presented a…

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Facebook’s Censorship Problem

Posted by on in Information Ethics, Social Media6 Comments

Facebook recently removed a photo of two men kissing from a user's Wall due to an apparent violation of the site's terms of service. This act of censorship has received considerable attention, and while it is reasonable for Facebook to try to control some of the content shared on its platform, there are some fundamental concerns with this case that point to a growing censorship problem within Facebook, especially when considered against the backdrop of Facebook's potential entry into China.

Amici Brief to Judge in WikiLeaks-Twitter Case: Protect Users’ Fourth Amendment Privacy Interests

Posted by on in Internet, Privacy, Social Media

In December 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice subpoenaed Twitter for information on several people associated with WikiLeaks, seeking the users' full contact details (phone numbers and addresses), account payment method if any (credit card and bank account number), IP…

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Firefox 4 Adds “Do Not Track”, but Buries It

Posted by on in Internet, Privacy, Values In Design1 Comment

Mozilla has released Firefox version 4, featuring a new look and feel (Chrome, anyone?), and new privacy and security features. The feature with the most potential -- and the most buzz -- is “Do Not Track,” which "lets you tell…

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Intellectual Freedom vs. WikiLeaks (Feb 24, Brookfield Public Library)

Posted by on in Events, Information Law & Policy, Internet, Libraries

Building from the successful event on Minding the Gaps: WikiLeaks and Internet Security in the 21st Century held at UW-Milwaukee, I will be joining my colleague Dr. Joyce Latham to discuss Intellectual Freedom vs. WikiLeaks at the Brookfield Public Library…

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Facebook Data of 1.2 Million Users from 2005 Released: Limited Exposure, but Very Problematic

Posted by on in Internet Research Ethics, Privacy, Social Media8 Comments

Recently, a Facebook dataset was released consisting of the complete set of users from the Facebook networks at 100 American institutions, and all of the in-network “friendship” links between those users as they existed at a single moment of time in September 2005. Surprisingly, it initially included each users unique Facebook ID, meaning the presumed "anonymous" dataset could be easily re-identified, potentially putting the personal information of 1.2 million Facebook users at risk.