The darker side of digital technology; get paid for spying

The other day on the train I overheard a girl gabbing away on the phone about her company, stuff that could get her fired if it got back to her employer. I was thinking how easy it would be to capture this on my phone and post it to YouTube, send it to the right people and that video could potentially really hurt her. - I would never do this of course but I thought of how people did this to celebreties all the time. Now with the increase of people who have this technology in their hands at all times I can see it potentially becoming a huge problem and I couldn't help but think of Orwell's 1984 and Big Brother.

So today I discover this Tech Crunch story. About a new site called Scooplive.com that pays people for video footage of celebrities behaving badly, btw I don't think it'll stop w/ celebrities.

Here's their blurb on the homepage "Something happens on your way to work, a famous movie star is cheating on his wife in your favorite night club? Don't hesitate anymore, take pictures with your camera phone, shoot videos and sell your scoops to journalists from all over the world. You will earn up to 85% of the sale price."

How horrible is this and where are we headed?

Published 25 January 2007 15:46 by Heather McConnell

Comments

• 

  James Barbour said:

  Yep - absolutely disgraceful.  The tabloid press here have been using pictures from the likes of www.scoopt.com for some time, and these days even the BBC is encouraging readers to email in their cellphone snaps.
  
  Question is, where does 'citizen journalism' end and 'citizen paparazzism' begin?
  January 27, 2007 00:02
• 

  Omar Ha-Redeye said:

  The converse happens as well though.  Overlooking the violent responses from the Rodney King incident, the ability to video the beating allowed for disciplinary action to be taken against the officers in question.  
  
  The proliferation of multimedia technology among the populace, as common place as hand held cellular telephones, could potentially be vanguard of the proletariat.  
  January 30, 2007 17:23
• 

  Omar Ha-Redeye said:

  
  A contemporary example would be the taser incident at the UCLA library.  
  The result was a public relations scandal of epic proportions.  The community condemned the incident.  The American Library Association (ALA) has clearly come against the institution, and the student involved is pursuing legal recourse for compensation.
  
  So although I can relate to the threat of civilian vigilante uber-paparatzi, I would suggest that digital technologies overwhelmingly have to potential for good.  
  
  By the way, how exactly do you capture those telephone calls?
  January 30, 2007 17:24
• 

  Heather McConnell said:

  I agree digital technology has the potential for both, and I think we're seeing examples of both as you pointed out. It will be interesting to see what unfolds in the coming months/years. Also I could capture video footage of what she was saying, not both sides of the conversation.
  February 5, 2007 18:30