Everyone Has A Story Or Message
The advent of the web and social media in particular has given many more people platforms to discuss, debate and campaign on issues which are important to them. We now live in an age where news travels faster than ever, bad news even more so.
The information age is one where the shackles on information are being broken. Openness and transparency are being rightly demanded from corporations, businesses, local and national government and other governing bodies. With the spread of freedom of information unethical behaviour and other misdeeds are being uncovered; the guilty are rushing to cover their backsides and plead they were only following orders.
Now more people are becoming better informed and seeking to hold those behaving unethically to account. Witness the Leveson Inquiry, the Spartacus Report and the backlash against the US Government's SOPA and PIPA legislation as examples.
Blogging
I became aware of the illegal behaviour of Phorm and BT in March 2008. What was merely a test bed to see what blogging was all about became a platform to highlight the illegal and unethical actions of both companies. The blog is still here, my questions to Phorm remaining unanswered to this day. Phorm have gone from country to country peddling their privacy invading wares but their reputation soon catches up with them.
The blog is called View From Planet Jamie and often focuses on unethical behaviour by corporations and companies, usually with an internet slant. Other interests include companies and their use and understanding of social media and customer service issues.
If there is one thing I would urge everyone online to do this year, it is to make their internet and telecommunications privacy a priority. For too long companies like Phorm and Facebook have been allowed to get away with questionable practices and intrude on privacy, using the weakest of claims as justification.
As more people learn about what they can do, the tide against these intrusions of privacy is changing. Make 2012 the year you start to take back your internet privacy.