Ephemerality as Data Prevention

Values for an Ethics of Ephemeral Mobile Media

Dados Bibliográficos

ID13011908
AutoresSarah Welsh (0000-0001-8748-8392, The University of Texas at Austin, autor correspondente)
Ano2020
Volume8
Fascículo3
Páginas419-435
Data de publicação2020-06-13
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoMobile Media & Communication (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2050-1579 • E-ISSN: 2050-1587
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/2050157920932956
OpenAlexW3034443886
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas47

Mobile media is a chief driver of digitizing locational information, geotags, and photos that are produced and collected as we communicate with and exist within our networks. But when these data are stored and recorded—in quantities that far exceed any of our abilities to manage—mobile technology denies our ability to actively forget. This article argues that digital ephemerality via mobile applications (i.e. Snapchat, Signal, Confide, and Facebook Messenger Secret) has emerged because of the granular possibilities for data retention enabled by mobile devices. Together these applications move towards a practice of preventing data from being stored and shared. In response, “data prevention” is proposed as an ethical framework for ephemeral mobile media, and is theorized with an eye toward the distributed agency inherent to networks. This ethics is positioned within a framework of distributed agency across stakeholders that draws most directly from actor–network theory, and three commonly articulated values—trust, transparency, and privacy—are proposed. These values help to define a system of networked practices within ephemeral mobile media that requires consideration of both human and non-human actors. Building sustainable ephemeral technologies necessitates aligning shared values amongst divergent stakeholders. The article concludes by motioning to LIMITS research, where data prevention might be included, linking and further intensifying shared values across technical and social concerns

Agency (philosophy · Computer security · Ephemeral key · Internet privacy · Mobile device · Mobile media · Social media · Social science · Sociology · Transparency (behavior · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Opportunistic and Delay-Tolerant Networks · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection