786 – Privacy in the New Media Age: Part I

– In this program, Hazel Henderson explores with law professor Jon L. Mills, former speaker in Florida’s House of Representatives, his current book, Privacy in the New Media Age. The Internet, social media, blogs, “citizen-journalists” and global news distribution pose thorny issues in all countries. While the USA favors free speech over individual rights to privacy, European countries are protecting people’s “right to be left alone” and the deletion of old records of individual behavior which may jeopardize their future employment. While Facebook and Twitter facilitated the grassroots protests and rebellions of the “Arab Spring,” these social media also helped police to track down the dissidents and their prosecution. Prof. Mills points out that technological innovations always outrun the pace of law and public responses. Different rules apply in many countries and global agreements may take decades.