COM 354 New Media Ethics

Robert Bodle IR11 - Göteborg

Outline

intro rise of interoperabilityOpen APIs and privacy concerns other concernsclose

Open APIs - the sex organs of interoperability

A means to exchange data between two or more web services . . .

Open APIs – sharing data

between sites and services . . .

Open APIs – through calls

Browser calls routed through API server

Open APIs – enabling cross-posting

Syndicating messages on various “web platforms simultaneously” (Global Voices Advocacy 2009)

ecosystem of 3rd party developersbuild on top of a platformmutualadd valueinteroperability often achievedthough not always . . . tenuous

begetting a world of 3rd party web apps

mashups widgetssocial gamesdesktopmobile social plug-ins

mashup integrates 3 APIs: Mappy API Google Latitude API

Facebook API

a world of 3rd party web apps

mashups widgetssocial games desktopmobile social plug-ins

widget

a world of 3rd party web apps

mashups widgetssocial games desktopmobile social plug-ins

Social games – FB quizzes

a world of 3rd party web apps

mashups widgetssocial games desktopmobile social plug-ins

a world of 3rd party web apps

mashups widgetssocial games desktopmobile social plug-ins

The “Like” button

From modularity to interoperability

prevent vendor lock-indrive competition drive innovationreduce costs

Jon Postel championed non discriminatory standardization and interoperability

Facebook's expansion of Open APIs

Facebook Developer (2006) Facebook Platform (2007)Facebook Connect (2008)Open Stream (2009)Open Graph (2010)

Facebook Connect

Social plug-ins

Unlike Beacon which broadcasted information about user's web purchases without permission, the “Like” button encourages people to volunteer their tastes and preferences.

Open Graph

Sharing one's “social graph” or the sum total of one's connections -activity streams, profile information, comments, recommendations, preferences (“Likes”) . . .

What is being shared?

* Friends: https://graph.facebook.com/me/friends * News feed: https://graph.facebook.com/me/home * Profile feed (Wall): https://graph.facebook.com/me/feed * Likes: https://graph.facebook.com/me/likes * Movies: https://graph.facebook.com/me/movies * Books: https://graph.facebook.com/me/books * Notes: https://graph.facebook.com/me/notes * Photo Tags: https://graph.facebook.com/me/photos * Photo Albums: https://graph.facebook.com/me/albums * Video Tags: https://graph.facebook.com/me/videos * Video Uploads: https://graph.facebook.com/me/videos/uploaded * Events: https://graph.facebook.com/me/events * Groups: https://graph.facebook.com/me/groups * Check-ins: https://graph.facebook.com/me/checkins

Privacy, autonomy, freedom

lose control over one's information unable to anticipate consequencesunable to make informed decisionsloss of self-determination or autonomyfreedom from interference

or “informational self determination” (Tavani 2010)

Open APIs and other forms of enclosure

market dominance lock-inprescribed info-flowscommodificationdependency

Opening the social media ecosystem

secureprivatecontrolled by userstransparentnondiscriminatory interoperability

Digital dilemma

If Facebook shares our information with advertisers and web trackers should we be concerned about the consequences of privacy breaches (deontological) or should we tolerate this as a necessary by-product of sharing online (utilitarian-greater good, consequences)?

Opening the social media ecosystem