March 2012 Social Networking and Privacy

 

Social Networking and the Death of Privacy

A Book Discussion Featuring Lori Andrews

Author of

Monday, March 5, 2012

12:45 – 1:45 PM
Boalt Hall
Room 100

Monday, March 5, 201212:45 – 1:45 PMBoalt HallRoom 100

Facebook, with over 750,000,000 members, is equivalent to the third largest nation in the world, yet it has no Constitution. In Lori Andrews’ new book, I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy, Andrews explores what it would mean to develop a Constitution for social networks. She analyzes what concepts like freedom of expression, right to privacy, due process and the right to a fair trial might mean in the social network context. She describes how courts’ handling of social network issues contrasts with courts’ reasoning in cases involving other technologies, including medical technologies and forensic technologies. She also shows how virtually everything you post on a social network or other website is being digested, analyzed, and monetized. In essence, a second self—a virtual interpretation of you—is being created from the detritus of your life that exists on the Web. Increasingly, key decisions about you are based on that distorted image of you. Whether you get a mortgage, a kidney, a date, or a job may be determined by your digital alter ego rather than by you.