Tag Archives: truth is stranger than fiction

the in crowd

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All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established. - Aristotle

A mob’s always made up of people, no matter what. Mr. Cunningham was part of a mob last night, but he was still a man.- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Vancouver has more than earned its nickname, Hollywood North. There’s a ton of film and TV production at the 49th parallel, locations easily passing for NY or LA and a zillion other places you’d never guess. Because I traveled a lot with my father’s work growing up (and production in Canada was huge in the 90s) I got to know, and fall in love with, Hollywood North.

Last year I took the writing deadlines and book I was editing with me up north for awhile. (When opportunity knocks, I can’t say no to Vancouver.) It was a great chance to see friends and family, find inspiration, and get a breath of fresh air, both literally and figuratively.

My Canadian friends and family are a mix of locals, as well as transplants from the States and beyond. And I was checking on many of them June 15th, when downtown Van was trending on twitter as #riotcouver.

The pictures were shocking. It just didn’t make sense that a town I love for its calm, its small town pace in a cosmopolitan setting, its kindness and compassion, was looking like downtown LA after the Lakers championships. I expect that behavior in LA. But Vancouver? Really?

Never underestimate the power of a crowd.

While I watched on TV as enraged Canuck fans took to the streets, I thought about a fascinating article on herd mentality that David Rieff wrote in The New Republic last year. Whether on the playground or the streets of any city, it’s pretty terrifying to see what happens when people congregate en masse.

I also thought about something Malcolm Gladwell wrote for The New Yorker last year (which, ironically, I read while in Vancouver), about social media, political change, and a thought-provoking look at how twitter and Facebook are redefining activism (or not).

I read a lot. I talk a lot. And I love nothing more than to read something that I want to talk about. Both the Rieff and Gladwell pieces led to some good conversations. And now, months and months later, I’m thinking of them again.

What Rieff says is terrifying and true - mob mentality seems to be part of human nature. But perhaps we can learn to keep it from happening – on the playground or in political regimes – through some sort of cognitive behavioral therapy. Ignorance isn’t bliss.

Gladwell made some great points in his essay, I love MG, but I think that social media may in fact begin to bring change. In the hours following #riotcouver people were tweeting about clean-ups set for the morning, which I don’t believe would have be so swift otherwise. And I think of how Facebook and other social media will play a role in catching those who committed crimes using photo face recognition, for example. This stuff is crazy. I mean, the face recognition in iPhoto can ID me as a toddler. In iPhoto. I can only imagine what more sophisticated versions can do.

Check out the Rieff and Gladwell essays when you have the chance. And let me know what you think - either here or on twitter. xo a

 

the fine print

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Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don’t. - Pete Seeger

Have you ever heard the story about the blogger whose annual family holiday photo somehow ended up on a billboard advertising a supermarket in Eastern Europe? A billboard they never would have even known about if a friend hadn’t been vacationing in the Czech Republic and saw the thing?

Yeah, it happens. Really.

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Some days the Internet seems like an unruly adolescent/toddler, constantly attempting to wield their independence through ridiculous Terms of Service. The fine print that few of us read, but that we all click and agree to, and then go about our days, totally unaware of whatever it was we said OK to.

I saw Eddie Izzard perform this piece about terms and conditions at the WriteAid benefit he headlined in 2007. Thanks to YouTube magic, someone posted Eddie doing the bit in ’09 for your viewing pleasure:

Click and agree. We do it all the time.

When Twitpic took copyright ownership of photos posted using their service, it didn’t bode well. People were pissed. Even though they’d agreed to it in the TOS. We click. We agree. But we rarely stop and read the fine print.

The good people of twitpic thought it over, said they were sorry, and changed the TOS back to the “yours, mine, and ours” deal you find with most photo-sharing apps.

Did you know what’s yours is also twitpic’s? (Or Instagram’s, yfrog’s, Lockerz, etc.) Check out the TOS and you’ll find magic word like perpetual, royalty-free, and non-exclusive. It’s right there, squished between a bunch of other words you didn’t read either.

I love Instagram. And I know they have the right to use my photos. I clicked. I agreed. But it does make me wonder if some shots are better shared via a service like Mobypicture, which is very clear in their policy that you retain the rights to your photos. (With Photosynth the rights remain yours, too. I’m not sure what else is out there. Anyone? Anyone?)

I have no plans to stop using Instagram. It’s a fun app and I’m not too precious about the images. I mean, I’m using it to post them on twitter afterall.

If Instagram wants to make money on my photos, well, at least I know that I gave them the OK to do so. But, they have to credit me as I own the copyright. xo a.

Nothing in life is free, but what do you think about these sites being able to use your photos how they please?

Is it the fact they can use images of your kids, friends, or your dog sleeping in a chair your office that concerns you?

Or is the fact that they can make money doing so that bugs you more? Or maybe it doesn’t bother you at all?