Have we gone too far? Are we getting closer to fulfilling Orwell’s prophecy in 1984? Is big brother watching us? Well yes, we have and he is, but big brother is not always what you think it is. There are video cameras everywhere now. We cannot get away from them so I suppose we must learn to live with them. Cameras point at us from the corners of most every room in public buildings and from street corners. They are there for our protection and safety. Aren’t they? But what about all those personal cameras used to catch our every move. Almost every cell phone has video now and so do the small pocket digital cameras. With nearly every human carrying around a handy digital video camera we never know who or what is being taped or where that tape is going to end up. With the popularity of YouTube and sites like it we will never see the end of this privacy invasion. We as a society must learn to adapt. We must learn to behave if we can. I don’t know if we that is possible. Perhaps we need to add basic manners and social skills to school curriculum. Not that it would matter much as it might already be too late. The worst thing is no one really seems to care. The stuff they see or do anymore doesn’t even embarrass them.
Heaven help us when we start taping and watching each other twenty-four seven. Oh wait, that is already happening. In April Justin. tv was supposed to do just that (I have not checked it out as I have no interest in it). But what about privacy? Doesn’t this require the permission of those people taped before being aired?
Who gives them the right to make money off of me, my image, my likeness? I didn’t sign a model release or contract. Does the average Joe now need to go out and get an agent just so they can get a piece of this pie? You know they cannot do this without making money on it so how do I go about protecting my rights and my interests? This then brings me back to YouTube. They sell ad space even ads right on the videos now. Do I as the producer, director, and writer of these videos get a portion of those profits? I doubt it. In fact I would bet that the terms of service agreement we all ignore, but all agree to, says we get nothing. Perhaps we should strike like the writers in Hollywood and not post to these sites that are making money off our videos.
I used to belong to a site that allowed you to post your own stories. It was very similar to today’s blogs. But they shared their ad revenue with the site contributors. Helium does this to some degree. Other community created sites should think about doing this sort of thing too. Google is working on a site similar to wikipedia and you know they will get money out of it. Shouldn’t the writers for that site make money from their articles? About.com pays their guides to write on the topics they know best. In fact wikipedia should verify their info (hope I haven’t shocked anyone by insinuating that the almighty wikipedia has incorrect information in it) and share any generated revenue with their contributors.
Web 2.0 screams contributor based content. I scream right back at it pay me for the content I post to your site then I will consider posting it there. Otherwise it is mine and I am keeping it. So don’t tape me, photograph me or quote me unless you plan on paying me.