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P Reflection Austin Powell 4/11/13 If I had an extra 24 hours to work on this project, I wouldnt change my paper too much. I might add more of my own opinions into the conversations, and discuss more of the ethical issues involved in the examples. Otherwise, after finishing this paper, I didnt feel like there was anything else that I needed to cover. To be honest, I had a very difficult time with this paper. I was confident with my original topic (the one about supermarket loyalty cards) until I came to a dead end. From that point I found topics and ideas that sparked my interest way more than my previous topic did. However, I got far behind from where I should have been and I struggled to get back where I needed to be. Since I was so behind, I wasnt able to have drafts ready for our peer review sessions. Also, I always felt myself asking questions about my topic (which I know is good, but I had so many questions that it dramatically slowed down my progress with the paper because I was trying to talk about every single question that could be argued in my topic. I think you should focus on my examples and how I tried to organize my paper. I feel confident that my topic is really strong (stronger than the loyalty cards would have been) and I think I did a good job with my discussion of each one. A weaker point that you should focus on is my purpose, I felt like I did a good job with purpose in this paper (at least compared to my last paper) but I am still not sure that It was good enough.

Powell 2 Austin Powell Mr. Borrero English 1102 11 April 2013

In a Digital World, Privacy is Not What You Think Googles CEO Eric Schmidt stated that Google polity is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it (Kontra, Par. 1). What does he mean by the creepy line? Where does that line start and end, and why is it okay for a company to get right up to it? We all live in a time of history referred to as the digital age. This is a time where nearly all information is available in a digital form and more importantly, it is more accessible than ever before. In the past, the world was a much larger place, and the spread of products and information was on a much smaller scale (Dean, Par.3 and 6). If a company wanted to share information about their product, they would advertise it just like companies do today. However, before the digital age, advertisements were often signs with words and pictures on them and it wasnt until the invention of the printing press in the 1600s that more of what we know was modern advertising erupted. Through the next century, advertisements became common in newspapers (even though many people couldnt read) and these ads created new standards for spreading knowledge about a product. The forms of advertisements in this period of time were solely dependent on the consumers seeing them. Therefore the companies had no control over who saw their ads and who didnt (Dean, Par. 3 and 6).

Powell 3 Due to the creation of the computer, internet, and other advancements in technology, companies had a completely new method to advertise their products to consumers. This new method focused on more active and targeted advertisements to individual types of people, and because they could be instantly sent to hundreds of computer screens a second, they proved to be much more effective than the passive advertisement methods of the past (Dean, Par.8). Companies no longer have to try to please everyone with one ad, instead they follow you as you surf the web and can target advertisements to your screen based on the websites and keywords that you type into the search bar or even words you use in personal emails (Dean, Par. 7). Since the beginning of the digital age, the line between consumers and companies has been getting smaller and smaller. If there is a Creepy Line, there are many conversations that discuss how companies are stepping over it. This article will discuss the distinction between public and private information in the digital age, how this affects the consumer relationship with companies, and the ethics of what companies are doing with our information online. Randall Stross wrote in an article for the New York Times that discussed the distinction between online public and private information where he said The popularity of Facebook and other networking sites has promoted the sharing of all things personal, dissolving the line that separates the private from the public (Stross, Par.1). Facebook is able to use the products and pages you like as well as other personal information on your page to target you with advertisements (Stross, Par.4). Have you noticed that those ads on Facebook always have some relevance to you? It isnt an accident, they know all about you. Many members believe this information is just visible to their Facebook friends, but

Powell 4 in reality Facebooks default settings have very few restrictions on what third-party software can see (Stross, Par.11). According to David E. Evans, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Virginia, Facebook sets a default setting of share, which means the information can be pulled out of Facebook and stored on servers outside its control; these 15 categories include activities, interests, photos, and relationship statuses (Stross, Par.12). Essentially, the information that members believe is private is much more public than we think, therefore this line between Public and Private information only exists in our minds. If that isnt enough to convince you your private information isnt really private, maybe this will- Google goes through every Gmail thats sent or received, looking for keywords so they can target Gmail users with paid aids ( Scroogled). Microsoft introduced a new campaign against Googles scanning of Gmail information in November, stating that Google has given themselves access to your entire account and can target you with ads based on who you email, which messages you open, what keywords spark your interest, which messages you reply to, and your recent use of stars, archive and delete(Scroogled). Similar to Facebook privacy settings, most people dont know that the company has control over your personal information. In fact, a study on the Scroogled website states that 71% of people didnt know Gmail (as well as other email services, because Google is surely not the only one) scans the emails that are sent back and fourth in order to personalize advertisements. This same survey showed 87% of Gmail users felt this policy was an invasion of privacy (Scroogled). Again, this shows that there is no distinct line between public and private information online.

Powell 5 Now that we have concluded that there is no creepy line that companies try not to cross, we have to ask ourselves How far is too far? Companies are trying to know as much information about their consumers as possible and when will they know everything? Personally I think that time is not far off at all. I believe that companies are going to become nearly 100% a part of consumers lives starting with the release of Google Glass. These far from ordinary glasses contain a built in camera and web browser with a miniature screen in the users eyesight. What makes this a serious matter is that you could be recorded at anytime without even knowing it, and the online information that is collected about you can be sent to the user as soon as you are in the cameras view (Lawson, Par.3). Just like Facebook and Gmail, internet services through Google glass will be paid for by ads. Think about all the possibility for advertisements with a computer built into your eyes. There is no greater way to force consumers to see advertisements then putting the ads literally right in front of them. For Google glass the possibilities are near endless, it would be able to use location-based advertisements to spark the wearers interest. Lets say you are in the food court of a mall and cant decide what to eat, with Google Glass you could see an ad for $2 off a combo floating above Subway, or maybe a free drink with purchase on the wall beside the Papa Johns. Although this may be good for deciding where you want to eat, how strange is it to know that the glasses (and the advertisements through them) are controlling your behavior as a consumer (Shah, Par. 10).

Powell 6 Mark Hurst, the author of Bit Literacy shows a large amount of concern for this issue saying The key experimental question of Google glass isnt what its like to wear them, its what its like to be around someone whos wearing themits not a stretch to imagine that you could be immediately identified by that Google glass user who gets on the bus and turns the camera towards you. Anything you say within earshot could be recorded, associated with the text, and tagged to your online identity and stored in Googles search index; permanently (Lawson, Par. 4). This is scary to imagine, a person could learn everything they need to know about you just by seeing you through these glasses. The ethical issue behind these examples is simple; internet companies are taking advantage of our new way of life online and becoming too close to our real-world lives. Although there is no line between what is considered public information and what is considered private information, these companies are becoming too much of a part of their consumers lives. It is up to us as the users and consumers of society to put pressure on these companies and stand up for our online privacy. It is important to for us to show them that we know they are watching us, and we dont like it.

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Works Cited Dean, Gregory. Advertising Then and Now. Marketology. Marketology, 9 Mar. 2010. Wed. 19 Mar. 2013. Kontra. The Creepy Line. Counter Notions. Counter Notions. 15 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. Lawson, Dominic. Forget Privacy- its Conversation Google is Killing. The Independent. The Independent Mag. 18 Mar. 2013.Web. 26 Mar 2013. Microsoft. Scroogled. Microsoft, 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Saha, Premal. What The Future Of Advertising On Google Glass Might Look Like. BusinessInsider. BusinessInsider, 27 Mar. 2013. Wed. 3 Apr. 2013 Stross, Randall. When Everyones a Friend, Is Anything Private?. The New York Times. The New York Times Company.7 Mar. 2009. Web. 2 Apr. 2013.