Permission to Podcast Sir
Friday, November 17, 2006
Do you think it's right to let people know when they're being recorded? Or would you be of the opinion that stealth brings out the truth?
Last night we were at the IIA Awards and our table had a disproportionate number of podcasters - a pod of podcasters? It seemed like there were mics all over the place - lurking in the bread rolls, under the salt shaker...there were lots of leading open ended questions being asked, and with the wine a flowing, I just couldn't help myself - setting forth my opinions, putting the world to rights. It was only when the innocent seeming interrogator kept glancing down at the bread rolls that I saw the mic - switched on, little green light blinking as it lapped up my words. Shocked. Aghast. Thinking what the hell did I just say?
Don't you think that there should be some sort of podcasting etiquette? I just think it would be polite to let someone know that every word they say is being recorded and will be available for download from a site near you. I know natural is good, free flowing is fun, but at least give people a chance.At least they can't podcast bad dancing!!
Labels: podcasting
8 Comments:
We have passed a watershed of digitial trust because those devices have propagated.
It's all a matter of trust. Can you trust the photographer who just snapped you half-locked? Can you trust the bright spark with the digital dictaphone in her purse? BTW, Stacey is a broadcaster who will not reuse the voice of another without permission.
I think it's important to consider the Big Brother reality. We live in a society that is recording us more than ever. Your email headers and text message destinations are recorded by the Minister for Justice. You passed three CCTV cameras on the way into Killiney's Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel. If you are selected for special screening at an American international airport, your body mass will be unapologetically revealed through scanners that show you in ways you thought only existed in a Philip K Dick novel.
It's all a matter of trust. When the little recorders, the cameraphones and the upskirt videocams are all around you, sometimes your sanity may require you to wear a tinfoil hat, a fake nose, or a hoodie. Or just lock yourself away in an analogue past.
Excellently worded reply from Bernie Goldbach there. Yes it's true, we are living in a Big Brother reality. And of course Stacey would not use a voice without permission. My only problem was that she was obtaining my voice without permission.
Furthermore, when all our movements are being captured and tracked, it does seem to be with a purpose - ie. security cameras record to prevent break-ins, US Customs Officials look at your body mass to prevent terrorist attacks they say. If my voice wasn't going to be used, what was the purpose of recording it?
You can read more of Bernie's eloquent opinions on his rather excellent site, Irish Eyes.
By Brightspark Dublin, at 3:25 PM
Probably comes down to whether you have an expectation of privacy while sitting round a table at an awards ceremony. Even if you don't, it would certainly be polite to let you know.
I do agree, weather sitting in at a table at an awards event or in a cafe, that the person being recorded should be told before that little red light goes on.. I'm am a broadcaster and podcaster who will never record or reuse the voice of someone without their permission, I see it as disrespectful to that person, therefore would never do so.
Bernie, you're a director of the Digital Rights Ireland lobby group who are using the Government for breaching the privacy rights of all citizens. Since you are suing the Government as you don't trust them, shouldn't you be taking legal action against someone at a table that records you without permission?
I'd refuse to sit next to someone again who recorded me without my permission and I'd make it known. Starve them of what they crave.
I also don't think it is enough to tell someone you are recording them, you shouldn't press record until you have expressly been given permission, especially at a table at a function. It's not the bloody podium.
In the end it all comes down to manners, if you record someone without their permission you are deceitful, dishonest and generally someone who cannot be trusted. A "broadcaster" who cannot be trusted won't last for long.
I appreciate the way people have responded to my wind-up about roving bugs because the reactions prove a point that Digital Rights Ireland have been trying to make--lives are being recorded by the State and nobody seems to mind.
But when a private individual clearly announces "my recorder is on," the reaction is clear and unequivocal. So, why is it okay for the government to record into an unregulated database but not for an individual to record for personal use?
I don't know if it's possible under Irish law to sue someone for making an audio or video recording held for private use. Such a legal avenue would have resulted in take down orders on photo-sharing sites like Flickr already.
Damien will probably refuse to sit next to me unless I empty out my pockets after a period of public repentance. Fair enough. To effectively extend the bubble of electronic privacy, such safeguards should be applied to all roving bugs, such as mobile phones. In at least three cases I have personally observed in Ireland, conversations were in full swing with a phone off-hook for a listener at the other end. On one occasion, the phone secured a deal for a client. On the other two occasions, the phones activated when jostled by a crowd. In a world connected by wireless communications, everyone has the potential to be a roaming bug.
I get paid to publish every week. Before a name gets printed, the person cited will have heard the words "for the record" from me. That's a long-established principle in mainstream media.
Here's some good advice: trust comes to those who earn it. Here's something I've learned--once abused, integrity rarely returns.
In places where I've lived in the States, in Germany and in Ireland, I have been recorded without permission, chipped for inventory, fingerprinted for biometric entry and footprinted for accident investigation records. I had no rights to access the records once they were taken. Having no right of inspection of recourse in error bothers me. It would be interesting to meet anyone in Ireland who has been both inside and outside of this discussion of respect for personal space.
"Permission to podcast" merely scratches the itch.
There has been quite a lot of interest in this post. However, the comments are tending towards the personal, between old rivalries with particular axes to grind. Thank you for your interest in this post, but I think that Brightspark's blog is not the forum for continuing with this discussion.
By Brightspark Dublin, at 11:21 AM
If a journalist wants to record someone to use their utterances in a journalistic piece, they must get express permission to do so.
If a podcaster wants to record someones voice for a podcast, the same should apply.
Particularly since podcast *creation* is still a persuance of a sub-set of people.
It is as simple as that.
I would be happy to be sit beside someone and recorded once I knew a) who the person was, and b) what the recorded piece was to be used for.
rgrds,
bernard