FrederickLane.com

For Immediate Release

Frederick Lane

Author, Educational Consultant, Lecturer

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

802-318-4604

Burlington, VT -- Frederick Lane, an expert on Internet privacy and social media and the author of "American Privacy: The 400-Year-History of Our Most Contested Right," is scheduled to appear this afternoon (10/20) on CNN Newsroom with anchor Brooke Baldwin. The interview will air at approximately 3:30 PM EST.

Lane was contacted by CNN to discuss a YouTube video of Yale fraternity pledges marching blindfolded through campus while shouting obscene chants. A brief story on the incident and a link to the video can be found on Salon: http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/10/15/yale_fraternity_pledges_chant_about_rape.

"Although it's not possible to identify any of the participants in the YouTube video," Lane said, "the fact that this clip has spread so rapidly and garnered so much attention underscores the shifting privacy landscape in this country. Given the fact that virtually every student carries a cellphone capable of taking photographs or videos that can instantly be uploaded to the Web, the zone of youthful indiscretion is rapidly shrinking."

A sign of things to come is the Delaware U.S. Senate race, Lane noted. In that race, both candidates are being challenged by things that they wrote or said when they were much younger. Coons (Lane's classmate and debate partner at Amherst College) wrote an article about his evolution from Republican to Democrat that he jokingly labeled "The Making of a Bearded Marxist," while his opponent O'Donnell is busy rebutting outrageous comments she made on Bill Maher's comedy/politics cable show.

"In twenty years or so," Lane predicted, "people who do opposition research for political campaigns are going to have a staggering amount of material to use. Not only is this generation of teens and twenty-somethings struggling with how best to balance technology, privacy, and decency, but search engines and social networks are developing tools that are specifically designed to eliminate anonymity."

Among others things, Lane said, companies like Facebook, Google, and Apple are investing in sophisticated face-recognition tools that will enable them to offer automatic photo tagging services to their customers. While that will undoubted be a boon for sorting the family vacation photos, it will heighten the likelihood that potentially embarrassing photos or videos will pop up in search results.

"One of interesting questions," Lane suggested, "is whether the ubiquity of recording devices and the ability of images and videos to go global will change personal behavior. This was a question raised by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham when he proposed the panopticon, a prison in which inmates could be held under constant surveillance (an idea later developed by George Orwell in "1984" and John Major in his campaign for prime minister). The idea is that if people think that they are constantly being watched, they will regulate their own behavior."

The other possibility, Lane said, is that societal norms of behavior will change, in which case YouTube video clips of a Senate candidate drunkenly playing beer pong won't disqualify him or her from seeking office. At the very least, political ads will get steadily more interesting (and nastier).

For information about Lane's publications and speaking services, please visit http://www.FrederickLane.com .

To contact Frederick Lane to arrange an interview about the Duke incident, the recent Rutgers tragedy, or other issues of student privacy and social media, please e-mail him at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 802-318-4604.

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