Monday, September 10, 2012

Data Retention: Political influence on Social Media?

Last week, the Attorney General Nicola Roxon announced that she was now in favour of government online data retention for two years in order to target criminals, despite earlier claiming that she was not in support of it.

The government would argue that the proposed data retention plan, which would force all Australian telcos and internet service providers to store the online data of all Australians for up to two years, is simply out to target criminals and crooks who are up to no good in your neighbourhood, and that everyday, law-abiding citizens have nothing to worry about. Privacy advocate groups are up in arms at the suggestion that everyone's online presence will be recorded and kept for two years, leaving it open to access and abuse. 


Australia's Attorney General Nicola Roxon.
Will her support of data retention be a friend or foe to social media?

This potential change to the government's access to Australian's online records raises serious questions for users and creators of social media and social media moderators.

Political Economyy Theory sees media "interconnected with and controlled by economic and political power" (Macnamara 2010). From a political economic theorist's perspective, Nicola Roxon's new-found support of data retention would indicate that this is an attempt by government to gain and influence power over users of the internet and social media. Should data retention be legislated, will Australian 'netizens' become more wary of their online behavour and change what sites they visit? Will 'prosumers' of emergent media modify their interaction with others online?

In a sense, social media users may become self-moderating, ensuring that the emergent media platforms they use, and the content they share, will be different, when users are conscious that 'Big Brother' is not just watching, but also recording their online behaviour. In my previous post, SocMedMod Vision Episode 1, I asked social media moderator Courtney Grigor if her communities were moving to self-moderation. She indicated that they were not, however could the government's close observation of online interaction and communities influence a user's actions towards self-moderation? I'd argue that it could possibly influence someone's response to a post or prevent someone from speaking freely. Moderators may find they have less hateful or aggresive  interactions from group members due to Data Retention.

The political economy worldview "has mostly presented a dystopian view of the internet and emergent media, seeing tem as likely to become colonized by the same power elites that dominated 20th Century media" (Macnamara 2010). Proposed data retention legislation could act as the first step political power elites take towards 'colonising' the internet and social media. Should Data Rentention proceed, the question must be asked - Will government become the ultimate social media moderator?

What do you think?

Is data retention the first step towards political colonisation of social media?

Will government become the ultimate social media moderator?

7 comments:

  1. I think the government's proposed data retention opens up many possibilities, but the outcome will take time to emerge. Netizens' current behaviours may well remain unchanged until evidence emerges of a case where the data is used unfairly. Then, is it going to change the pursuit of 'professional' criminals, activists, or will it be the generally law-abiding citizen who will moderate their use of social media out of fear: I think the latter? Once enacted, what confidence can we have of a future government's ability to acknowledge, let alone address the subtle social impacts of the policy? The government may see it as a means of colonising social media, which it is, to some extent. But as an instrument of social media moderation, I think it needs more arrows than just data retention to hit that target.

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    1. I agree Ian, I think people will self-moderate out of fear, which is not such a good thing.

      As Sam says, I think this is an example of a powerful entity (government) imposing its control of social media, a force over which it currently has very little control. I also just how many serious criminals will be caught by expanding this power. Surely we already have legislation enough to manage our criminal element? And it's worth noting too that it's not only law enforcement agencies who would be granted warrants to access the data stored: the ATO and Centrelink are among the agencies who will be able to get hold of the data.

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  2. Thanks for your comment Ian. Appreciate the point you raise about the porposed data retention legislation requiring more arrows to become an instrument of moderation, however, as I stated in my post, a user's 'fear' or 'awareness' of data retention may be enough to change their behaviour. I agree with your point regarding storage/access: As soon as the data is used unfairly, either by the government of if it is accessed illegally, then the real impacts of colonisation and moderation will appear - people will be much more unlikely to interact as they did previously. Thanks Ian.

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  3. Hi Sam, I been following Ms Roxon in Winsome's blog, very interesting discusion.

    Answering your questions: The proposed data retention is the first step to political colonisation.Governments are use to be in control of the information; they are use to “the power” and tell voters what they have to do, what they have to speak about. So, social media present a challenge for the old hierarchical public service culture including: the liberation of information, promotion of collaboration and new management of privacy.

    For the second question, I refer my answer to the article “ the online devil is in the details” ,which summarises the discussion about retention data. I agree with the legal and industry experts who do not understand how Roxon could claim that the proposal doesn't constitute spying.

    My conclusion, we as australian citizen cannot allow this law to be approaved by the Australian parliament, it is go against democracy and our human rights of democracy.

    To read article: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/the-online-devil-is-in-the-details/story-fndo317g-1226474483368
    Consuelo Ferrada

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  4. Hi Sam - I've really enjoyed your posts and thought I would contribute a different perspective by sharing an article on "The changing privacy landscape in the era of big data" that I found from the Molecular Systems Biology journal - great to get yet another cross discipinary view on this!

    http://www.nature.com/msb/journal/v8/n1/full/msb201247.html?WT.mc_id=FBK_NPG

    The article quite rightly points out "education and legislation aimed less at protecting privacy and more at preventing discrimination will be key." I'd highly recommend a read of this article, particularly the middle bit which has some interesting observations on our expectations on what kind of data should be kept private

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  5. Thanks for your comments Consuelo and Kerry. I've been catching glimpses of the Data Retention story in the media, but am keen to explore the #StopTheTrolls campaign and how they overlap to some extent under political economy theory. As Tom pointe out in our Tute last week. The Daily Telegraphy bumped school funding from tis front page to focus on the Troll issue - here is a tradition media outlet jumping onto and into the space.

    Kerry - your link to the Biology Journal sounds like it would fit into the Data Rentention/Trolling angle I'll be taking next quite well.

    Thanks!

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  6. Hi Sam, I agree with most of your other readers. I think online data retention is a step in the wrong direction for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. I can see why the government wants to pass this law. They already have acess to a great deal of our personal information through medicare, licencing and tax etc but this truly opens the posibility to delve into our private life. Looking forward to your next post. The 'stop the trolls' hysteria gripping the media (especially the Telegraph) at the moment is just fueling the fire for the potential data retention laws.

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