CHRISTIAN FUCHS - ICT&S - Universität Salzburg

Christian Fuchs: Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance SocietyUnihelp reported: “Attention! studiVZ Markets Personal Data!!!”[“Achtung: studiVZvermarktet persönliche Daten!!!“]. Five people commented. This is an unusual highnumber of comments because normally most of the articles have none or just onecomment. This shows that the change of the terms of use is a topic that concernsstudents immediately.If one compares these articles, then it becomes clear that most of them straightforwardannounced that the change of the terms of use means more surveillance and lessprivacy in order to maximize economic profits of the Holtzbrinck corporation.Students are likely to read such articles in newspapers, magazines, and online becausestudiVZ is used by the vast majority of them and they therefore have an immediateinterest in the topic. This coverage might have positively influenced their knowledgeabout studiVZ and the resulting information behaviour. But besides news coverage onthe new studiVZ terms of use, there was also an online campaign, which was likely toattract many studiVZ users. On December 7, 2008, there were 248 interest anddiscussion groups on studiVZ that covered the issue of the new terms of use(Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen, AGB). Table 16 shows the five groups that had themost members.Group Name Number of Members Number of PostingsAchtung - studiVZ ändert die AGB! [Attention – 3820 8748studiVZ changes the terms of use!]Widerspruch gegen die neuen AGB (12/07) 1620 1042[Opposition to the new terms of use (12/07)]"Stell dir vor, studiVZ ändert die AGB und keiner 875 201stimmt zu" [“Imagine that studiVZ changes theterms of use, but nobody agrees”]Stell dir vor, studiVZ ändert die AGB und keiner 511 411stimmt zu 2 [Imagine that studiVZ changes theterms of use, but nobody agrees 2]! Datenklau abstellen ! Vorgehen gegen366 23Datenschutzerklärung/AGB! [! Stop data theft !Action against privacy policy/terms of use!]Table 16. studiVZ interest groups on the change of the terms of use with most members(accessed on December 7, 2008)In the largest group, information about the changes are provided and there is an appealthat users should not agree (“Appeal to all members: Let your profiles becomeorphans!”, “Appell an alle Mitglieder: Lasst eure Profile verwaisen!”). It also documentslinks to press articles that cover the topic. All of these five groups argue that becoming amember of them is an expression of protest and that the users possess a collectivepower to leave studiVZ. The third group lists how the advertising options can bedeactivated. There were also intense discussions in these groups that focused onappeals to spread the word about the change of the terms of use and the protest groupsto other users, on gathering group members in order to create the threat of masswithdrawalfrom studiVZ, and on discussions about surveillance.Networked digital technologies pose quick, cheap, efficient means for organizingprotest. Information about protests can be distributed (Cognitive cyberprotest), protestcan be communicated and resistance can be co-ordinated (Communicative78