Controlling Knowledge

Lorna Stefanick

• Publisher: AU Press
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781926836614
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Media & Entertainment Law
• Index: Law

Digital communications technology has immeasurably enhanced our capacity to store, retrieve, and exchange information. But who controls our access to information, and who decides what others have a right to know about us? In Controlling Knowledge, author Lorna Stefanick offers a thought-provoking and user-friendly overview of the regulatory regime that currently governs freedom of information and the protection of privacy.Aiming to clarify rather than mystify, Stefanick outlines the history and application of FOIP legislation, with special focus on how these laws affect the individual. To illustrate the impact of FOIP, she examines the notion of informed consent, looks at concerns about surveillance in the digital age, and explores the sometimes insidious influence of Facebook. Specialists in public policy and public administration, information technology, communications, law, criminal justice, sociology, and health care will find much here that bears directly on their work, while students and general readers will welcome the book's down-to-earth language and accessible style. Intended to serve as a "citizen's guide, " Controlling Knowledge is a vital resource for anyone seeking to understand how freedom of information and privacy protection are legally defined and how this legislation is shaping our individual rights as citizens of the information age.

INDEX

A

access to information laws: concerning adoption, 106–8

challenges to, 73, 79–93, 190, 208n19

fundamental principles of, 65, 79–80, 95

international legislation of, 71–79

lack of resources for enforcement of, 86, 87, 190

concerning medical information, 104–6

negative aspects of, 92–93

in private sector, 24, 65, 94. See also freedom of information; transparency

accountability, 5–6, 64

adoption, 106–8

Adscam, 67

Agha-Soltan, Neda, 164–65

aid. See foreign aid

Arar, Maher, 50

Assange, Julian, 153–54

autonomy, 29, 30–32. See also privacy

B

Bentham, Jeremy, 126–27

biometrics, 148, 151–52, 222n35

blogs, 58, 165

bureaucracies, 82–83, 84–87, 91, 92–93, 190

Burma (Myanmar): and suppression of “Saffron Revolution,” 164

C

Canada: access to information law, 72, 88

data matching in, 49–50

and public health, 120–21

and Facebook privacy policy, 180–81

privacy directives of, 40–41

privacy protection for medical information, 104–5, 115, 117

and surveillance of citizens, 53–54, 138

Castells, Manuel, 162, 184

CCTV cameras: in Britain, 133, 136–37, 140, 149

cellphones, 51, 153, 162, 164–65

censorship, 19, 75, 76, 139, 158

Chile: access legislation in, 75, 213n13

Clarke, Roger, 151

“Collateral Murder” (US military video), 154

commodification: and Facebook, 175–76

of information, 207n13

of personality, 174

confidentiality, 34–35, 97–98, 103–4, 106–8

Conroy, Stephen, 139

consent. See informed consent

“coverage creep,” 42

Cowen, Zelman, 34

crime: and access to information legislation, 70, 74–75

and data matching, 49–50

and sharing of medical information, 99

and transparency, 9–10

and video surveillance, 131–33, 135, 136–37, 148

D

data banks: and employment application forms, 54–55

and data flow concerns, 46–51

and data matching, 48–51, 109–11

and data mining, 42–43, 49

maintained by governments, ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgements
• CH_1 An Introduction to Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection
• CH_2 Privacy Protection
• CH_3 Freedom of Information (FOI)
• CH_4 Sharing Medical Information: Antidote or Bitter Pill?
• CH_5 Surveillance in the Digital Age
• CH_6 Social Networking: The Case of Facebook
• CH_7 Balancing Freedom of Information and the Protection of Privacy
• Questions for Discussion
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index