Readings for March 16

When we return from break March 16 we will try to catch up on the topic of online politics, which may very well take a big chunk of our class. We always fall behind in class, and I have built that into the schedule.

I will key on the Karpf reading, which was assigned for March 2 and is on Blackboard.

• Karpf, D. (2013). The Internet and American Political Campaigns. The Forum, 11(3), 413-428. 

We will then turn to privacy and surveillance. This lets us introduce three key ideas:

• Locational privacy
• Blumberg, Andrew J., & Eckersley, Peter. (2009). On Locational Privacy, and How to Avoid Losing it Forever. San Francisco: Electronic Frontier Foundation.
• The inadvertent revealing of personal information via meta data
• Brustein, J. (2011). “On Twitter, Conservative (or Liberal) by Association.” The New York Times, 21 March.
• Heussner, K.M. (2009). “’Gaydar’ on Facebook: Can Your Friends Reveal Sexual Orientation?” ABC News, 22 September. 
• The original research study is here. 
• The right to be forgotten
• NPR radio news story.
• Optional sources:
• A video about the right to be forgotten.
• John Oliver's take on it.
• The Wikipedia entry.

All of these readings are short and accessible, and the ideas represented are fascinating.

Optional: This is a good TED talk that discusses the effects of the Edward Snowden revelations on diplomacy and American business.