Today I learned there’s such a thing as the Video Privacy Protection Act, a piece of 1998 legislation that apparently requires information about customers’ rental habits be kept secret by those doing the renting. Today it’s a thing because Netflix wants to integrate with FaceBook, and it can’t because of the law’s wording.
I wrote about privacy not long ago, in an article I called The Open World. My objective was to talk about the concept of personal privacy in this day and age, using recent stories like Wikileaks and the PSN hack to demonstrate that maybe there is none, and maybe it doesn’t matter. That thesis rode high on my recent experience with Christine Love’s indie don’t take it personally, babe, it just ain’t your story, itself a bold meditation on the very concept of privacy – a very human concept, not one we see much of elsewhere in the animal kingdom.
The Open World wound up being one of the most stressful, vexing pieces I ever wrote. I don’t want to rehash the story; suffice to say that what you’ll find behind that link up there is not the original version of the article, and does not say exactly the same thing. Anyway.
One of the things I realized while writing The Open World was how much I’ve relaxed the grip on my own privacy in the past few years. An enormous amount. And if you know me at all you know how shocking that is.
I have always been a private person. I require solitude unbroken by anything not of my own personal actualization; I require it to a point just shy of the pathological. Which is ironic because I’m not uncomfortable around people, work perfectly well in groups or one-on-one, and have no problem talking in front of giant crowds. But when I want to be alone, I need to be alone. Fortunately I am blessed with understanding friends and a degree of control over my own environment that I can usually accomplish this. I require a sanctum, physical and otherwise, and go to extraordinary lengths to keep out anyone who lacks my explicit invitation… and, once they’re in, they need to know when it’s time to leave, and that I don’t mean any harm or rudeness or disrespect, it’s just… there’s the door. Use it.
Being private and wanting to be alone are two different things but as apples they fall from the same tree. So when I look at my life now and realize anyone on my Skype list can see when I’m around; anyone who’s befriended me on Steam can see what I’m playing; anyone at work can look at my calendar and see where I am; I mean, for a person like me whose natural instinct is to hide those things even though they’re completely innocuous, it’s unbelievable that I don’t break out in hives at the very thought of it. But I don’t. I’m even comfortable with it. After all, just because it looks like I’m there doesn’t mean I have to answer. Someone can text me all they like, I’m not bound to respond. I’m still hidden, safe.
Now Netflix wants to integrate with Facebook, so that – presumably with my permission – it can tell my friends what I’ve been watching. And for some reason I find myself recoiling at the idea. That people can look at what I choose to view makes my skin crawl.
Don’t get too excited. You’d find nothing really shocking in my playlist even if you could see it. My Netflix Instant Queue is full of Torchwood back seasons, some anime because I want to like it even though I don’t, a couple of Bergmann films I haven’t seen in ages, some terrible Sean Bean movie set during the black death, a documentary about wolves, that sort of thing. If you rummaged a bit, you would find some eyebrow-raisers: Irreversible, The Fly, and The Human Centipede all in quick succession, but you’d also see each was only watched for about 3 minutes… I needed them for a since-abandoned video project. No, there’s nothing scandalous there. So what do I care?
I care.
Why do I not really care if someone – a member of the very same trusted and/or loved circle that’d have access to what I’m watching – happens to see I’m playing New Vegas? What’s the difference?
Honestly? I don’t know the difference. But I know I care.
We don’t need a law for everything, but we do need some new ones designed with the future rather than the past as guide. Robust, standardized opt-outs, for example. NO, you may not see what I am watching on Netflix. YES, you may see what I am playing on Steam. NO, you may not call me with remarkable one time offers. YES, you may come to my door spreading the gospel of Jesus.
I can’t explain privacy, but I know those parts of it we’re losing are going away gradually, and they’re not bothering me too much. For some reason this particular one touched a nerve with me. It feels… too personal, I guess, for someone to see what I’m watching. Not because what I watch is secret or even embarrassing, but because it’s mine.
Sometimes I worry Kinect is watching me as I watch things on Netflix. I wouldn’t know. It listens when I tell it to pause, so it’s definitely paying attention. Would it secretly judge me, if I chose to curl up on the sofa buck naked, with a pint of ice cream and a tray of mozzarella sticks, and watch Friends reruns until I fell asleep in a sticky puddle of crumbs and vanilla bean? If I knew without question that the Kinect were watching, and through it someone else, would I make sure my socks have no holes before I sit down? Watch more foreign pictures? Adjust my posture? My beverage choice? Would I dust?
Maybe I ought to throw a blanket over that thing.
Send an email to the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
Finkbug referenced a movie called Metropia on the forum which I watched yesterday.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985058/
Yes, your TV is watching you Steerpike. Swedish puppets with giant heads prove it to be so.
Hmmm, well, I’m pretty sure the most-left title there is All Dogs Go to Heaven, and armed with this knowledge I shall now judge you unfairly for no good reason.
…actually, I rather like that movie.
Steerpike, I think it’s because you don’t know when you’ve transgressed that safeline until it’s too late. How much information is too much? What if someone out there decides – somehow – to misuse this information against you? The smallest piece of outlandish data has been used to admonish greater men than ourselves.
Some commenter visits Tap one day, posts something like “well that guy in Norway was kinda right if you think about it” and you say, “hey nuff that, we don’t tolerate that sort”. Commenter takes offence and goes digging up every single public factlet about your life and turns into some sort of character assassination.
Whether it would work or not is besides the point. But the feeling that … someone is crawling around your life, scraping underneath every rock and re-assembling what they find for consumption… that’s paparazzi-level anxiety right there.
There’s that strange, indefinable difference between public and “more public” – where things become more findable, readable, accessible.
And we’re all moving along that slider every day.
I think HM touches on something there – ‘misuse’. People knowing stuff about you is all find and dandy, so long as such knowledge isn’t misused. And that’s the problem – there are jerks out there who want to cause Trouble.
If said trouble causing jerks didn’t exist, and you knew that everything you said and did was interpreted from your point of view, with complete understanding and compassion, you (the generic ‘you’) would probably not mind so much.
Likewise, if all of our personal details and opinions were noted, but with complete indifference, then it wouldn’t be such a problem. Look, Jarrod’s playing Borderlands – so? Look, Steerpike’s watching porn – who cares? Look, Scout’s reading the news – ho-hum. Look, Brandon’s turned into a retrobate – ok. Look, Harbour Master is leading a revolution in Antartica – whatever. All not so bad. But when that information is misused (and I include unnecessarily judging people based on information as misusing it), then there’s a problem. Look, Jarrod’s playing PS3 – that lazy jerk, he said he was going to do today!
I don’t mind an open society – but it must be open for all equally, if it is to be open, and it must lose ego-based judgmentality (I’m not sure if that’s a word, but I’m going to run with it like a kid with scissors). As a society, we’re not ready to be completely open, and sure as shit, we’re not ready to lose our prejudices and ego-based thinking.
I like people to know what I’m up to because it’s usually a talking point without having to outright ask ‘have you seen/played/heard this?’ Steam has been great for that. Only yesterday somebody on Gmail put as their chat status ‘Jamiroquai – Canned Heat’ and sure enough, me being a old fan started a conversation through that crumb of knowledge.
On your Open World article, Jarrod mentioned people seeking fame and wealth (or personal fulfillment in some way) through exposure of themselves using social channels and I think there’s an element of truth in that but for me it’s simply a matter of opening myself up to connect with others. All these little revelations here and there go some way in finding talking points and that can’t be a bad thing in my book.
I agree with Gregg B, I do not mind if people can see what I play, watch, listen to etc, but just as long as I can choose when to let them be able to do so or not. Sometimes I just feel like not letting people know, like hiding what you’re listening to on msn, not a big deal at all, but is just how I feel.
About the anime, would you mind saying some of the animes you tried, Lewis? I know a good amount of some really nice ones, who knows, maybe you’re not looking for the right ones, if you want I could tell you some according to the style you prefer.
Hey Dan, welcome!
I can’t explain why I don’t care that friends know what games I’m playing but do care about other things. Like I said, it’s not like there’s anything private, embarrassing, scandalous, or obscene in my viewing list. Besides, even if there were, since only friends could see it, should I really care? They have enough to judge me for already and haven’t done so. But it seems like some sort of privacy threshold I just can’t get over.
If by “Lewis” you mean “Steerpike,” regarding anime: I’ve seen a fair share due to a friend who used to work at Netflix trying to bully me into liking it by sending me a constant stream of what she deemed the best, though I have no basis to compare her taste to.
In general I like the concept more than the execution. The art style doesn’t bother me and I feel it’s a good way to execute stories that would be too expensive, too impractical, or too niche to produce in a live action format. However, the Japanese sense of humor does not match my own, so any comedy that didn’t make an effort to be western drove me crazy. What really irritates me about anime is that the narratives completely fall about and become utterly nonsensical at the end, almost without exception.
I liked Elfen Lied because it was just so profoundly disturbing and dark (and also ended with some semblance of closure); HBO should remake it and take out the stupid parts. Samurai Champloo was funny, in a western way. Ghost in the Shell was all right.
I despised Evangelion, because like with so many anime it just… they were “ahh, screw this, we’re tired of it, just slap a drug-addled nonsense ending on there.” To its credit it was the only anime I’ve seen that had anything close to mature character development. In general I dislike the entire schoolgirl-driving-giant-mecha genre.
Cowboy Bebop was indescribably boring. Death Note went on about 15 episodes too long. Gilgamesh meant well, but again, it ultimately made no sense.
As for movies, I enjoyed the art of Steamboy but – wait for it – the film as a whole made no sense. Don’t even get me started on Akira. I very much liked Spirited Away, but was meh on the rest of what’s-his-name’s work.
But if you have recommendations, and they’re streamable on Netflix, say the word! I am nothing if not encouragable.
Everytime I feel like Steerpike is becoming a genuine friend, Uncle Steerpike who could look after the children when I feel a quick weekend getaway, he throws something at me like “the ending of BSG is divinely sublime” or “all your anime belong to shit”.
Well, I suppose having lived in Japan, I probably give their cultural artefacts more leeway because of my undying love for the country. Still, saying that, the ending of Evangelion is all a bit headtrip (although which ending are you talking about, the last episode of the series or the actual End?). But Lain! Lain is headtrip from the beginning! It’s narrative doesn’t disintegrate, it’s crunchy like that all the way through!
As for narratives that hold together, I really liked Mononoke Hime, even though it’s on Steerpike’s “meh” hitlist. Tired now. Hitting submit comment button.
Uncle Steerpike is delightful with children. You feel free to take Mrs. HM up the coast for a getaway, Uncle Steerpike will watch the shop and keep HM Jr. entertained with a rainbow of creative amusements, from puppet shows to funny faces.
In fairness to me, I do feel some guilt that I don’t love anime, because it damages my geek cred. To be a well-rounded geek I should like anime. And I try! I do try! If I fail, it is because I am made to fail, not for lack of good intention. Hell, I even watched the Actual End of Evangelion (it still made no sense). So I mean well.
Of course, if people could see what I was watching, and an anime expert like Dan or Harbour Master were to see that I was trying to endure some really horrid one like Texhnolyze, they would judge me and I would feel ashamed.
All right, when I get home I will select something anime and try to enjoy it.
“All right, when I get home I will select something anime and try to enjoy it.”
God, now I feel sick to the bone. I see what you did there.
Truth. Nowadays, I have a love/hate relationship with anime. I watched Nausicaa just last month and didn’t understand what the fuss was about. Mononoke was superior in my book.
And I could never get over the limpness of protagonist Shinji in Evangelion – no matter how deliberate it was – who never grew and stayed like that until the final curtain call with the giant split head on the beach. But I liked the sudden left-turns when just another Eva vs Angels fight would morph into an apocalyptic showdown in the NERV command centre itself. And the occasional killing of lead characters.
But I find Lain is inspirational in a David Lynch way. It’s virtually impossible to make sense of, but the ride is pretty wild.
Oops, my mistake there, somehow I’ve read “Lewis” somewhere in the article even tho it wasn’t there, I guess I’m always way too hyped for GW2 and when I come here I automatically think its him, so, yes, sorry.
To be honest, I never watched Evangelion, despite its hype, it never interested me. I’m not much of an anime guy in general, I do watch some from time to time and normally enjoy them (I do a good bit of research before starting) but my thing is manga.
For mangas I could gladly tell you to read One Piece, which is pretty much the most famous and sucessfull one in Japan, I would tell you to run away from the anime because it changes some things and is A LOT slower. I know its 62 volumes but believe me, if you have the time, give it a go to read one volume in less than an hour, I found the humor to be amazing, the history has depth, the characters do progress and are very likeable.
For gag’s manga, Beelzebub is the best in my book, even though is mostly 60% gag 40% battle. And I’d run away from the anime, they say the beggining is horrible and the comedy is dull compared to the original but it seems to get better as it goes, but the manga is genius. You can read it here if you so desire, the online reader is incredibly easy and functional – http://manga.redhawkscans.com/?manga=Beelzebub&last
I don’t really understand about Netflix since I never used it, but if Ao no Exorcist is available there, you should try. Its in the beggining for the moment, 18 episodes long or so, but its fun, of course it has some flaws, but is really enjoyable. Is a shonen manga, with some comedy and battles.
Kaichou wa Maid-sama! Is a bit girly since the main character is a girl, but its a romantic comedy which I laughed a lot watching, you’ll find yourself embarassed sometimes, but I enjoyed it thorougly.
Darker than Black is fun, is more serious and a bit spy-ish, I saw it years ago but I remember I enjoyed it a lot.
One Outs is a seinen with gambles on baseball, it’s really awesome even though the main character is basically invencible but I had SO much fun with it. 😀
For drama, try Ano Hana, watch the OP of it (http://youtu.be/X1ALwCPK_AI), if you like the feel of it, you’ll enjoy the anime, but it’s really saddening so if you do not want to get a bit sad, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Ooo! Another one I liked: Black Lagoon. Very existential , very dark, but with a great sense of humor. I even bought the manga and enjoyed that, because I’d enjoyed the anime so much.
Don’t worry about mixing me with Lewis. In many ways we’re interchangeable. Both of us have hair that sticks more or less straight up; both of us are disarmingly studly. He has a British accent, though, because he’s British, and I just have a normal accent because I’m not. Beyond that we’re practically the same person. 🙂