Who's Watching You? the Fight Over Facebook Privacy

BtN: Episode 14 Transcripts 01/06/10

On this week's Behind the News

· Who's watching you? The fight over Facebook privacy.

· Cheers for young achievers but are they too young for adventure?

· And unlocking the secrets of the deep in Antarctica.

Hi I'm Nathan Bazley welcome to Behind the News.

Also on the show today: the campaign to protect kids from spinal injuries.

Those stories later but first let's catch up with the latest news on The Wire.

The Wire

The oil spill from the underwater well off the United States is getting worse.

They're now calling it the worst environmental disaster in American history

"We have been unable to overcome the flow from the well, so we now believe that it's time to move on to the next of our options."

When the heavy drilling mud was being pumped into the well bore the flow of oil and gas was largely blocked.

But every time BP engineers stopped, the leaking well one and a half kilometres below the surface gushed back to life.

For the communities in oil affected Louisiana it was devastating news.

BP's next plan is to try and cut off the leaking riser pipe and place a cap over it.

But officials say a relief well is the only complete answer and that won't happen for at least another month.

***************

In Australia, a large rock-art gallery is fascinating archaeologists in a remote part of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory

It's believed the ancient art works could be up to eight thousand years old.

The traditional owners of the land say they are excited the painting could be Australia's oldest dated rock art.

Internet Privacy

Reporter: Nathan Bazley

INTRO: Internet privacy has hit the headlines again this week and it's all to do with Australia's second most popular website.

Facebook has been slammed for not treating their user’s privacy seriously enough.

But how can websites breach your privacy?

And how can you keep yourself safe?

One day there was a girl called Kate who was having a party.

The party was to go down at her apartment and an invitation was sent out on Facebook except it might have been sent out a little too far.

After a prankster posted the link on twitter, random people started RSVP'ing.

By the time it was taken down by Facebook, 60,000 people had said they were coming.

Luckily the whole thing was a joke the picture of Kate was actually a girl from New Zealand, who had no idea what was going on.

In the meantime, hundreds of groups had been set up to celebrate the joke including "Which Turban should I wear to Kate's party”, "Aww I can't go, I have Kate's party," and "Hey are you going to Kate's party? No, I wasn't invited. Ahh Awkward"

So what was the point of this whole hoax?

David Thorne is the creator.

Well the creator says he did it to highlight problems with privacy on Facebook.

If Kate had really been holding a party she could have ended up with one huge nightmare.

Privacy on the internet seems pretty much a given.

You're sitting at a computer, often by yourself.

No one can see you through the screen or can they?

With the amount of information we're posting online, there is a worry we're letting strangers know more about us than they should.

Dr Julian Dooley, Edith Cowan University: The more information that you put out there the greater the potential is for people to find that information and possibly people that you don't want to.

It's become such a concern, federal police officers now hold workshops in schools to educate kids about what can go wrong.

AFP OFFICER: Don't get caught up in the popularity contest of who can have the most friends on MySpace or Facebook.

AFP OFFICER: Once you put those photos and videos and comments online there really is no taking it back.

And a lot of the blame has been written squarely on Facebook’s wall.

These guys are Facebook fans.

CAROLINE: I'm kind of embarrassed about how much I use it. I use it like every day.

But even they admit they or their friends do some pretty silly things on the site.

SOPHIE: Sometimes people just do randomly accept people who they really don't know.

But they say one of the biggest problems is that trying to keep things private can be confusing.

HOLLY: It's actually quite hard to find on the profile. Like, you have to sort of go into like a different menu like off the home page and then like set. Like it isn't like sort of right there saying "privacy settings" like on the home page.

All up, Facebook has 170 privacy options in 50 categories.

Their privacy policy alone is nearly 6000 words long!

No wonder some kids are confused about how to safely control their information.

Their worries have gone right to the top and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now agreed to make some changes to Facebook to help people feel more in control.

But in case you're still in doubt over how bad privacy breaches on Facebook can get check this out for a real-life example.

The head of Britain's spying agency MI6 had his cover blown after his wife neglected to make her Face book profile private.

Anyone in the world could see their pictures their home address even their family members.

Now they're people who should know a thing or two about privacy!

Presenter: So that Facebook incident was rather embarrassing for Britain's top spy because spying is all about secrecy.

Spying Game

Reporter: Sarah Larsen

INTRO: Recently the issue of spying has been front-page news in Australia.

Our government expelled an Israeli diplomat after Australia accused Israeli spies of making fake Aussie passports.

It might all sound like something from a movie but as Sarah found out real-life spying is a lot more serious.

SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: Being a spy means living a life of mystery and intrigue, laughing in the face of danger and outwitting the bad guys.

REPORTER: Or so the movies would have us believe. In real life it’s not so simple or so glamorous. The bad guys aren't so easy to spot and the good guys don't always win.

There are real life spy agencies and not just the ones you hear about on TV.

TV Characters: NCIS, NSA

If you had a really close look around the world you'd find spy agencies all over the place, including Australia, although they prefer the name "intelligence agencies". Intelligence just means information which governments need to make good decisions. They might try and find out how much money's being spent on the military in other countries or what weapons they have, or keep an eye out for new laws that could affect trade or whether there's likely to be a change of government. And they might try to stop terrorists.

KID: So how do they find the information?

Most intelligence agents spend less time doing this and more time doing this (hardly James Bond, according to spy bosses).

ASIS BOSS: It's mostly very mundane.

A lot of it involves collecting information that's available to everyone; newspapers, web pages, blogs, radio bulletins. They also use technology like satellites and spy planes. Then there's Human Intelligence, or HUMINT in spy-speak; watching people, following people, interviewing people. Most of the time that happens in their own country but sometimes spies work with spies in other countries to find intelligence that can help them both. And sometimes they work overseas in secret. That's dangerous and controversial. Most countries see spying as a serious crime and if spies are caught they can spend a long time in jail, or worse. And while real spies aren't usually licensed to kill, on rare occasions they've been accused of assassinations in the name of keeping their country safe. That's what happened earlier this year. Israel was accused of having this man killed in Dubai. He belonged to a group that's hostile to Israel. These people are believed to be spies from Israel's intelligence group, the Mossad. They were among 32 people arrested by Dubai police and found to be carrying fake passports from around the world. Some of the fake passports were Australian, with names and identities stolen from real Aussies. Forging passports is a serious crime in Australia.

STEVEN SMITH, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER: The government is left in no doubt that this was a matter authorised by Israel.

And even though Mossad won't admit to killing anyone, there have been consequences. Last week an Israeli diplomat was kicked out of Australia and that's made some Aussies and Israeli's angry

ISRAELI: What is Australia trying to say? That they would prefer Mapouf to be alive, murdering innocent Israelis, Australians, Americans.

It’s a tricky issue. Some say spy agencies have too much power while others argue that, to keep people safe, spies should be able to bend the rules.

Quiz 1

Let's have a quiz.

Hollywood's most famous spy is James Bond.

So how many James Bond movies have been made?

22

19

12

The answer is: 22

And the James Bond movies have earned nearly five billion dollars at the box office.

Risk Takers

Reporter: Natasha Thiele

INTRO: Bond is pretty good at pulling off death-defying stunts and recently young people have been in the news for their adventurous endeavours like sailing solo around the world and climbing the world's highest mountain.

But their achievements involved a lot of risk and that's got some people concerned about whether these teens were too young to do what they did.

Tash went to find out if age matters when attempting these dangerous challenges.

Aussie girl Jessica Watson has been hailed as a hero, all because she took a big risk!

She was just 16 when she first set out to sail solo around the world, but a lot of people weren't happy about it, especially after she crashed into a huge ship that she hadn't seen on her radar.

The critics didn't believe she should do it, but she wasn't put off.

JESS WATSON: I've been training for this sort of thing for so many years, it just gave me confidence. It was sort of like wow, I can actually handle this.

But she set sail a month later and proved them wrong and received a massive homecoming.

British teenager Mike Perham did the same thing last year at the age of seventeen, but was assisted.

While a Dutch court was pretty tough on fourteen year old Laura Dekker. They stopped her from going on her own attempt because they thought she was too young.

Jess and Mike aren't the only ones to have accomplished such a big adventure.

Thirteen year old Jordan Romero from the US recently became the youngest climber to reach the top of the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest.

He wasn't alone though. He was with his dad, his dad's girlfriend and three Sherpa guides.

JORDAN ROMERO: It was the best view you could get anywhere in the world. It was very difficult. It was harder than I thought, definitely.

NATASHA THIELE, REPORTER: People have been climbing the world's highest mountain for decades. It's so dangerous many mountaineers have died! And the fact teenagers as young as thirteen are being allowed to attempt these risky missions has some people worried.

They think they don't have enough experience and are putting their lives at risk.

JESS WATSON: It wasn't a crazy risk, you know, it was actually very carefully planned the whole way through.

Others think, if it's something kids want to do and it's their passion, then it’s okay.

Dr Judith Paphazy is a psychologist in Melbourne.

She's worked with students, teachers and parents at more than 50 Aussie schools.

DR JUDITH PAPHAZY: These are young people whose parents have obviously taken quite a bit of time in training, in practice, in a build up for the strengths and skills you would need to perform these tasks and that they've developed mutual trust. If they were 8 or 9 they might be too young, but adolescents, young adolescents and mid adolescents are not too young if they're well prepared.

She reckons if parents are too over protective, it affects their kids' ability to make decisions later in life.

DR JUDITH PAPHAZY: Parents today, particularly middle class parents, are incredibly overprotective. Children are so bubble-wrapped it's a wonder they don't suffocate. When you think about previous generations when kids played, actually played amazing word, and they were outside, they climbed trees, they climbed equipment, they did everything.

DON MCINTYRE: If we keep wrapping up our society and our young kids in cotton wool, which is what we're doing, we're changing the culture of Australia. Australia needs heroes, Australia needs adventurers and there are a lot of real serious positive benefits from anyone that's getting out there and having a go and chasing their dreams and really pushing themselves to the limit.

You might think going on these huge adventures is really awesome, but is it too dangerous and way too risky?

And how old should someone be to take on an expedition?

GIRL: I think it's a little bit risky. You're in the middle of nowhere and you might sink.

BOY: You can go as soon as your parents and you think you're ready.

GIRL: If you're determined enough and if you really love something and you just go for it, you might be rewarded.

BOY: I actually think at least 16 or over, because you should be able to at least get a car licence.

BOY: If I was thirteen I would probably give it a go but it would be pretty scary!

Presenter: So those young adventurers are very careful when putting their necks on the line.

Online Poll

And let's make that this week's poll question.