The purpose of this post is to provide my professors with a book, movie, tv show, etc. that would be meaningful and informative if added to the class. The class was structured very well and I felt as though in a short amount of time it was able to focus on many different aspects of social media and digital culture. One part of the course that I thought was especially interesting and relevant was the discussion privacy policies and data gathering. It made me realize just how much information we leave on the internet and how it can leave us very vulnerable. We do not realize that with every click we provide Google and other companies like Facebook with information. It may seem to most that this is unimportant information and it does not matter if this information gets taken, but, with this seemingly minute information, companies are able to learn things such as where we live, who we voted for, and even what we ordered last week. In the course we read articles about big data gathering and articles like “Your Digital Footprint Matters” by Eric Sheninger that show us just how much information we provide to the internet. This was especially prevalent within Facebook. We spent a good bulk of class discussing Facebook and how, through Facebook, not only can others find information about you, as seen with “stalk my professor”, but also learn more about your internet habits as a whole.
Following the topic of privacy policies and data tracking, The hour long documentary titled “Terms and Conditions May Apply” would be a good addition to the course and provide good context to go along with our discussions. The documentary, directed by Cullen Hoback, discusses how major companies utilize our information when we agree to their privacy policies, browse a website, install an application, or purchase goods online. As talked about in class, who really reads the terms and conditions? Do we truly realize the information we are providing to the app? The film discusses the wording and presentation of these privacy policies and how it can be easy to not read them at all. Major companies such as Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn are criticized throughout the movie for having poorly worded and ambiguous policies. The movie’s goal is to make users more aware of how the internet gathers our information and how what we view and search f0r stays out there forever. The purpose of this movie follows one of our themes of the class which was the idea of making users more educated when navigating the internet.
This movie would follow the theme of readings such as “Facebook Told Advertisers It Can Identify Teens Feeling ‘insecure’ and ‘Worthless’” by Sam Levin and how Facebook’s quizzes track our information. I think this movie would be most effective after discussing privacy policies in social media apps. I think this movie would also be a good addition because it is only an hour long but effective. The assignment that I would include with this movie would be a brief summary of one of the companies mentioned in the film and how their privacy policy was used to manipulate users and how, because of this movie, you will be more aware of your digital footprint. Overall, I feel this movie would be an appropriate and informative addition to the class and provide the class with more context and explanation on data gathering and privacy policies.
