A documentary that exposes what corporations and governments learn about people through Internet and cell phone usage, and what can be done about it ... if anything.
When I decided to watch this, the first thing I thought of was the "South Park" human centipede episode. And sure enough, a clip is shown almost immediately. Great to see these guys have a sense of humor (heck, they even have Willy Wonka and Eddie Izzard).
There are plenty of statistics about how long it would take to read all the fine print that no one really does and how much it is allegedly costing us to agree to these "hidden in plain sight" conditions.
We get a bit of a look at the Patriot Act's effect on privacy laws, and an even briefer mention of PRISM (which, unfortunately, makes the film a bit dated already, even only a year after it was made). There are even examples of people getting arrested by authorities for their Facebook and Twitter posts. (And one guy -- the "steak and cheese" author -- who did not!)
Does the film spread paranoia? Does it make Mark Zuckerberg the enemy? To the first question, no. While constantly on the verge of going too far, the film never does, and makes many valid points without ever sounding like a conspiracy theory. As to the second, this is more unclear. Zuckerberg is suggested to be too close to the FBI and other organizations, and certainly Facebook's privacy settings come under attack. But this is only a superficial reading -- the real message is that all tech companies, not just Facebook, are now going this route.
When I decided to watch this, the first thing I thought of was the "South Park" human centipede episode. And sure enough, a clip is shown almost immediately. Great to see these guys have a sense of humor (heck, they even have Willy Wonka and Eddie Izzard).
There are plenty of statistics about how long it would take to read all the fine print that no one really does and how much it is allegedly costing us to agree to these "hidden in plain sight" conditions.
We get a bit of a look at the Patriot Act's effect on privacy laws, and an even briefer mention of PRISM (which, unfortunately, makes the film a bit dated already, even only a year after it was made). There are even examples of people getting arrested by authorities for their Facebook and Twitter posts. (And one guy -- the "steak and cheese" author -- who did not!)
Does the film spread paranoia? Does it make Mark Zuckerberg the enemy? To the first question, no. While constantly on the verge of going too far, the film never does, and makes many valid points without ever sounding like a conspiracy theory. As to the second, this is more unclear. Zuckerberg is suggested to be too close to the FBI and other organizations, and certainly Facebook's privacy settings come under attack. But this is only a superficial reading -- the real message is that all tech companies, not just Facebook, are now going this route.