Poll: Do We Have a Right to Privacy Online?

There is a certain balance that the government has to maintain when it comes to our privacy online. Certain law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and Department of Justice might need to look at emails or private Facebook messages to catch terrorists or other criminals who inhabit digital worlds. But the ACLU recently found that those agencies have a policy to do that without warrants and without public oversight. And when many U.S. senators were incensed by the IRS also snooping into private emails, the agency backed down and said it would discontinue looking at emails — but no word on what it would do about private Facebook or Twitter messages. How far do you think the government can intrude into our online privacy? Does it depend, or are they going too far? Vote in our poll below, share your thoughts in the comments, and hear an extended discussion on the topic on this week’s Mediatwits podcast.

Why Do Cats Dominate the Internet? »

« Daily Must Reads, May 10, 2013

Tags: department of justiceemailsfbigovernmentonline privacyopen government

Mark Glaser :Mark Glaser is founder and executive director of MediaShift. He contributes regularly to Digital Content Next’s InContext site and newsletter. Glaser is a longtime freelance journalist whose career includes columns on hip-hop, reviews of videogames, travel stories, and humor columns that poked fun at the titans of technology. From 2001 to 2005, he wrote a weekly column for USC Annenberg School of Communication's Online Journalism Review. Glaser has written essays for Harvard's Nieman Reports and the website for the Yale Center for Globalization. Glaser has written columns on the Internet and technology for the Los Angeles Times, CNET and HotWired, and has written features for the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Entertainment Weekly, the San Jose Mercury News, and many other publications. He was the lead writer for the Industry Standard's award-winning "Media Grok" daily email newsletter during the dot-com heyday, and was named a finalist for a 2004 Online Journalism Award in the Online Commentary category for his OJR column. Glaser won the Innovation Journalism Award in 2010 from the Stanford Center for Innovation and Communication. Glaser received a Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Missouri at Columbia, and currently lives in San Francisco with his wife Renee and his two sons, Julian and Everett. Glaser has been a guest on PBS' "Newshour," NPR's "Talk of the Nation," KALW's "Media Roundtable" and TechTV's "Silicon Spin." He has given keynote speeches at Independent Television Service's (ITVS) Diversity Retreat and the College Media Assocation's national convention. He has been part of the lecture/concert series at Yale Law School and Arkansas State University, and has moderated many industry panels. He spoke in May 2013 to the Maui Business Brainstormers about the "Digital Media Revolution." To inquire about speaking opportunities, please use the site's Contact Form.

View Comments (1)

DailyPrivacyRpt says:
May 13, 2013 at 8:59 am

The issue with thinking "...unless we've committed a grave crime" is that a "grave crime" is subject to interpretation by those in power. If an investigation of a crime is falling that category, then those doing the investigating should go ahead and bulletproof their investigation with a proper warrant.

Comments are closed.

MediaShift Launches New Peer Group Trainings for Publishers
We know that our MediaShift community likes learning new things. That's why we have always…
5 Key Points for Journalism Educators Who Want to Teach Online
If you’re transitioning to teaching students online, then you’re possibly in one of two camps:…
Why Texas State’s Digital Media Degree is Attracting Female Students
One year ago, I wrote an article for MediaShift about our new undergraduate degree in…