A married couple is currently in the process of suing Google for invasion of privacy due to a photo of their home appearing on Google maps. I think that this is a stark contrast to the "collective memory" idea because like this couple, I am sure that there are many people who are against making contributions to the collective memory. This is very different from the utopian ideology of technology of technology as a uniting force, because some people would be more interested in keeping their content private. These users may still be prosumers, but only for the limited audience of themselves, family, and friends. Another interesting idea on collective memory that I found came from this website which explains that collective memory is dynamic, it changes and memories become lost or less important from generation to generation.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Married Couple Sues Google
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5 comments:
Wow - that is crazy. I was thinking about this actually when I was writing my post - absolutely nothing is private anymore even if we think that it is. I do not think that google can be sued in this case. Yea it's creepy that there's a picture of my house on google maps - but I like this aspect of google maps for other purposes as well. This is just something that people are going to have to start getting use to whether they like it or not!
I agree, thats pretty crazy. Its unnerving how accessible your information is, even if you don't want it to be. If you think about how this couple is interacting with Google, it could be said to be another form of collective intelligence. Especially if it changes the way in which Google operates. It seems this couple is contributing to collective intelligence even if they don't know, or don't want to be.
This is crazy, but I do understand how some people might not want to contribute to the whole collective intelligence thing. Because a lot of stuff on the web is from the contribution by the people, but the actual people who contribute to the collective intelligence aren't the actual people making the money. Like Youtube. Youtube will be nothing if people didn't contribute to it and the people who make money off of that is Google, people who own it. Maybe that's not the whole idea of collective intelligence?
I am with everyone else in saying that this is a little nuts. I think that this exemplifies the broad spectrum of prosumers from unwilling to willing in the same argument. While I think that it is a little unnerving that anyone can locate my house with a few mouse clicks AND get a picture of it, I think that the odds that someone will use that maliciously are pretty low. This couple reminds me of my parents in that they are afraid of the internet because they think it is a Big Brother type of entity. Seems to me that the collective intelligence theory/argument has a lot to do with generational divides as well. Let's face it, this is a sticky business to try to wrap one's head around and this couple clearly shows that.
I actually see why the couple is sueing google. I don't like any of my information online either (although, I know that it could probably be found). I don't want to make it easier for people to see what I own, what I'm doing or make it easier for them to track me physically or digitally. My facebook doesn't even have a picture of me. Criminals use facebook and myspace to track people... they catch sex offenders all the time. It scares me that we are giving them more content.
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