X-Files star struggles with privacy online

April 30, 2007 in internet, new media, online, privacy

Like just about every celebrity, X-Files actress Gillian Anderson has her own website.

One part of it is entitled “Messages from Gillian”, supposedly so that she can talk directly to fans. But the actress is not happy with the way the media has also been reading her messages.

Apparently, she is going to stop writing as she is fed up with journalists using the information for stories. In an entry dated 23 April, she expresses surprise that her notes have been used for mass public consumption, without anyone asking her permission. She said she was flummoxed and angry.

I would quote from the post here. But in a pre-amble to the entry, Anderson says that her messages are exclusively for fans and she asks that the entries not be published either online or offline.

Anderson does seem rather naive about the web. If she did not want journalists to know about her life, she should not publish those details online. In an age of the Internet, does she really expect that she can stop anyone quoting from her entries?

But the story demonstrates how public our lives have become and how the Internet is redefining the meaning of privacy. There is an unprecedented amount of personal information available online, via blogs, social networking sites or by simply doing a Google search.

3 Replies

Bryan Murley
April 30, 2007 at 2:54 pm

Not only is she naive about the Internet, she’s apparently naive about the concept of fair use. There’s a reason it’s called the World Wide Web. Further, I’m wondering if her fans are as naive as she is, and - if not - what they think of her naivete. Do they find it charming, like an infant sitting behind the wheel of the parents’ sedan, or infuriating, like Alec Baldwin lecturing on parenting tips?
Gisele Baxter
April 30, 2007 at 4:16 pm

Surely posting something in an open-access blog, not even restricted by some sort of special fan password, is rather like having a heated very personal argument with someone by cellphone while on the bus or in the checkout line. Ironically earlier today I was talking with someone at CTV about the implications of students using social networking sites or employees using blogs to criticize teachers or bosses. Ultimately he wanted to talk about legal implications I’m not qualified to address so I don’t have to be on TV at 5 a.m., but it is true that very young teens often confidently assume a privacy in sending pictures to each other or having an online discussion that despite filters doesn’t really exist. Yet at least they probably do set up filters, and it does require some technical ingenuity to get into their sites. She’s apparently posting this for the world to see! We live in strange days.
feartheseeds
April 30, 2007 at 10:20 pm

Even after using some sort of privacy filter, even a simple password available only to “fans” (and really, has Gillian done anything even remotely newsworthy in the past five years to warrant having fans?), it would and is stunningly naive to think someone isn’t going to get said password then copy and paste her entire postings into an email and fling them into the hands of TMZ or eXtra or ET Canada.
Honestly, this sounds just simple-minded enough to be a PR attempt at getting a little press… “Gillian just wants to be left alone: Next on E! Talk.” I’m betting her blog traffic is up a few ticks this week.

As for those kids sharing embarrassing information on Facebook and MySpace and those of us listing our foibles on WordPress… so what? I think that’s the lesson: “So What?” Here’s my left boob, here’s my right boob. I smoked crack once in the hallway of my high school. At some point I was a virgin, then I wasn’t. I think Jenny’s a slut. I really want to lick my boss’s big sweaty feet. The biggest lesson the Social Sites are teaching kids and adults is that we’re all guilty of something and innocent when it comes to trust. If you don’t want people to know it’s you, don’t use your name and put a black bar across your face on those photos of your right and left boobs.

As for Gillian’s blog… a simple Creative Commons would be a good place to start.