by Tanaz Irani (Spec. Hon. B.A, Pol.Sci.)

It is common and accepted knowledge that once users establish an account on any one of the numerous social networking sites available today, those users are making themselves vulnerable to privacy invasion in a number of ways.  Earlier this year Facebook updated its policies on user generated content to allow virtually all uploaded material to be used by the company for advertising, marketing, or essentially any other purpose, even long after the user deletes an account.  These policy modifications did not go unnoticed, and in fact were met with public complaint and threatened legal action.  This ultimately encouraged the good people at Facebook to return to the older version of the policy; however Facebook is not the only entity that users need to be aware of in respect to privacy concerns.

More and more employers are using social networking sites as a tool to screen potential employees.  With the multitude of recent layoffs, and economic hard times, employers are turning to such digital tools to help sort through the numerous applications they receive - weeding out those whose online profile does not meet the standards or desires of the company.  Is this (very personal) background check fair?  The truth is that outside Quebec, B.C, and Alberta, Canada’s invasion of privacy laws do not extend to information in the hands of private entities, so user beware!

There are a number of pros and cons involved in the question of social networking sites and their interaction with the corporate world.  While employers are accessing and assessing the posted content of current and potential employees, complaints made by these individuals against companies for their hiring and firing practices, are on the rise.

It is worth mentioning the “Cisco Fatty” case (as coined by the Globe and Mail newspaper on March 23, 2009).  When following a job offer at Cisco, a Twitter user in California sent out a “tweet”: “Cisco just offered me a job!  Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty pay cheque against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”  In less than an hour, she received a reply -from a worker at Cisco- and word is she never got that fatty pay cheque. 

Companies on the other hand not only can benefit from this watchdog potential, but also from the timely,  financially-sound simplicity of socializing and networking via these sites.  Perhaps a ‘poke’ on Facebook does not make the same impression as an expensive luncheon with a client, however it might suffice as a reminder to the client.  Of course, it must be noted that such financial benefits are offset by lost productivity related to employees wasting company time surfing around, chatting with friends, stalking old classmates and taking part in innumerable quizzes, games, and various other applications.  Heck, I may not be Twittering about it, but all the research and writing for this particular blog entry was done on company time!  Is this lost productivity or will the ebb and flow of the digital corporate collision balance itself out?  As an increasing number of people have quit smoking, could taking a social networking break be seen as the new smoker’s equivalency break?

The CRTC new media hearings, with their far-fetched funding idea to promote Canadian content online, appear to be going bust.  Ok, perhaps it is not over until it is over, but we have passed the middle mark and things are not looking too progressive.  The initial stage of these hearings started three weeks ago with submissions from various interest groups.  The CRTC heard arguments from groups including The Canadian Independent Record Production Association, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and The Independent Media Arts Alliance.  The CRTC also accepted submissions from ISPs who are in fact, up to bat this week, offering their side of the commentary.  In sum, I think University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist described it best as ‘a huge disappointment with submissions short on specifics, long on rhetoric, and filled with inconsistencies’ (www.michaelgeist.ca).

Canadian content on the Internet? Is this Canadian content that is intended to develop self-identity among Canadians from Halifax to Victoria, or intended to entertain web-surfers from Hong Kong to the Vatican? The CRTC, from the outset is taking a flawed approach with its overly-generalized and divided definitions of ‘broadcast’ versus ‘ telecom’.  These traditional understandings of ‘media’ are no longer viable.  Many of the interest groups seem to be taking outdated perspectives and offering similarly redundant solutions.  Overall, it seems the various parties involved would first need to realize where they stand in light of contemporary media discourse, and after that agree on (or learn) a common vernacular by which discussion may be facilitated.

As these hearings sputter to an end, it leaves me thinking not of the Canadian content that will potentially never be produced, but of the vast and expensive lobbying and discussion-making industry that absorbs so much of the value that already could have been rolled into producing that content.  As is often the case, the cost of the process tends to squander the resources that could be directly applied to achieve the results that the process is said to be fostering - maybe not money so well spent?  While the New Media Hearings seem to be an expensive flop, hopefully at least we can salvage the conclusion that government regulation in the area of online content, is a bad idea.

After ten years of refraining from involvement, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has turned its sights again on the Internet - not just to regulate data traffic, but arguably to regulate the creation of online content itself.

Having decided on a ‘hands-off’ approach at governing content on the information highway back in 1999, the CRTC currently is holding hearings on the question of whether a fund should be set up to develop Canadian content online - paid for through a levy on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that surely will be passed along to consumers and business users.

Controversy at the hearings will center on the question of whether the CRTC should be stepping in and playing an influential and regulatory role within the new media/Internet sector.  Insofar as large pockets of the Internet have remained untouched by government intrusions in the past, the nature and character of Internet content has developed into something different than that of traditional media.  The expressed concerns of independent producers and artist groups such as the Alliance of Canadian Cinema Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) or the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) are compelling in their depiction of Canadian content being washed away in a flood of potentiality for non-Canadian content, yet, while considering the reality of these worries, one must take account of the value in keeping the Internet as an organic medium, free from restrictions that want to make it conform to traditional notions of cultural and commercial value.

Perhaps ISPs should stop whining and get used to the responsibilities they have as the bulk-providers of new media content?  I think the issue is more complex.  The CRTC’s move to levy a charge on ISPs to fund a program to develop Canadian content online mirrors the CRTC’s Canadian content efforts regarding traditional broadcasting and merely recognizes the significance of the Internet on our culture.  I am all for the funding of Canadian artists and producers, but the notion of Internet content regulation seems to me essentially idealistic, whimsical, and in fact, quite fantastic.  Not to mention unattractive, because it is dampening innovation.

On Tuesday, Alain Pineau, the national director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts made the claim that ‘broadcasting is broadcasting whatever the distribution platform.’  I disagree, not only on the basis that this generalizing notion is a slap in the face to many of the great media theorists of the last century, but also, and more practically, it disregards the unique character of the Internet and its nearly limitless potential.  One must be very careful to see the big picture here.

Internet streaming is still not ready for prime-time. Sir, I thought you should know. I’ve taken a few minutes today to watch history in the making online. After all, you’ve harnessed the Internet for your presidential campaign. You’ve used social networking sites and blogs to spectacular advantage for fund raising and getting the vote out. You are a young guy, with-it, Internet-savvy. You’ve got a lot of Facebook friends. You must be cool. In that spirit, I thought I’d try to keep up with you and watch your inauguration speech online. Boy was I underwhelmed. It felt like 1999 all over again, like I was on a dial-up connection, gamely trying to do something… revolutionary.

No matter which “live” feed I tried, they all were the same. Likely there were massive user demands on the big news media sites today, but I must report, be careful, they were not up to what we’ve come to expect from you online. President Obama, you need to know that you have not been well served today online by the conventional, television-based media. All the choppy, lagging or downright dead “live” feeds of your inaugural speech were a drag. If the medium is the message, then you should watch your back.

President Obama, I hope you can get on this problem, maybe tonight after work, hopefully not spending too much time on tech support while you’re fixing the rest of the world.

Exposing your music to the masses is getting easier.  With free or inexpensive digital distribution sites you can raise your musical integrity from basement band or bedroom dj to a position of indie rocker or electronic prodigy in a matter of clicks n’ scrolls.  Sites like MySpace are putting control back into the hands of musicians and in doing so are effectively disarming the corporate money making machine we have all grown to accept as the music industry.

1.  MySpace.com.  An international social networking website that provides its users with personal mail, a forum for posting public messages, digital community or group affiliations, video streaming, and weblog space.  One of its primary uses is found in the self promoting potential of its platform; musicians can easily get the attention of their peers and people in the music industry.  This is a fully interactive realm, designed and proliferated via user content.

2. TuneCore.com came to be in 2005 when the makers of YourTunes (a Brooklyn based company), realized the demand for this digital distribution outlet.  As a refreshing alternative to traditional music distribution sites, TuneCore refrains from taking percentages from their users’ sales, or asking for the rights to their music.  It allows for musicians and other rights holders to put their music up for sale with multiple, digital, music stores including iTunes, Rhapsody, AmazonMP3, eMusic, and so on.

3.  Last.fm. Said to be the world’s largest social music platform.  Last.fm is an online radio station that allows for both music streaming, and music sharing.  Users are able to create a digital profile in which they may express their musical preferences and share their own music.  Based out of the UK, beginning in 2002, this internet-radio and music community has more than 21 million active users around the globe. 

4.  Facebook.com. Like MySpace, Facebook is an international social networking website that provides its users with personal mail, a forum for posting public messages, digital community or group affiliations, video posting potential and facilitates highly interactive user discourse.  According to ComScore, in June 2008 Facebook has more than 132.1 million visitors!

5.  Bebo.com is an entertainment oriented social networking site which allows users to post and share photos, music, personal blogs, and interact with one another via individual profiles.  It is a popular spot to promote and sell one’s music and has in the past, linked up with corporate music leaders including Apple.

6.  CdBaby.net is an online music store specializing in the sale of physical compact discs and digital music downloads from independent musicians directly to consumers.  Additionally, the company has become a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_Baby).

7.  IndabaMusic.com is a social networking site that specializes in connecting musicians who may be interested in collaborating in online music projects.  It is free to sign up, and as a user you can personalize your profile, post and receive feedback on your own music and that of your peers.  Similar to other music collaboration sites such as Jamglue, Splice, WeMix, eJamming, Mix2r, NinJam, and YourSpins, Indaba Music profiles provide users with the ability to represent themselves within the music community.

8.  YouTube.com.  Perhaps music exposure isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of YouTube, yet once one disregards the video emphasis which has made this site a tremendous success, it becomes apparent that it contains all the key ingredients for getting one’s music successfully heard by masses upon masses of people.

9.  MusicFreedom.com is a social networking site that maintains a focus on the distribution, promotion, and sale of digital music.  This site lets its users listen to Podcasts, purchase MP3s from up and coming artists, as well as providing an opportunity for users to network, and share their personal profile with others.

10.  TaxiMusic.com is an online music hosting site.  It provides a space in which unsigned bands, artists and songwriters with major record labels, publishers, film & television industry folk can network.  This in an online A&R company, helping to get artists heard, and albums sold.

For more ideas, familiarize yourself with these other popular music-oriented sites: BlogSpot, CloudTrade, HypeMachine, iVideoSongs, MOG, MuxTape, Omnifone, Pandora, Qtrax, RCRDLBL, SeeqPod, Slacker, Jamglue, Splice, WeMix, eJamming, Mix2r, NinJam, YourSpins.