Terms and Conditions May Apply

Excellent review of the political and social changes in *digital* privacy for the past 13 years since 9/11. The director goes into great detail on how Websites have constantly shifted toward acquiring and disseminating more information as time has gone on since 9/11 and how this information can, and is, being revealed to the government on a regular basis. What is more disturbing is how much we thought that either a password or a privacy change on Facebook to "Friends Only" doesn't actually protect us, totally, from government or corporate dissemination of who we are.

The director also points out the substantial moral problem of when we are allowed to forget our secrets and to let them lie in our past. 5 years? 10 years? 3 months? When are we entitled to have those embarrassing pictures taken at age 14 taken off the Internet search engine results (from, say, Google)? When it's been 10 years? What about adults? Do they deserve to have privacy of past-acts (good conduct or misconduct)? This is a matter not currently under substantial discussion in the Congress and the director points out that Congress is the only legislature in the US that can adequately make laws on these subjects.

Again, worth seeing once so that you learn what exactly those "terms" are that you agreed to.

A documentary that exposes what corporations and governments learn about people through Internet and cell phone usage, and what can be done about it ... if anything.

When I decided to watch this, the first thing I thought of was the "South Park" human centipede episode. And sure enough, a clip is shown almost immediately. Great to see these guys have a sense of humor (heck, they even have Willy Wonka and Eddie Izzard).

There are plenty of statistics about how long it would take to read all the fine print that no one really does and how much it is allegedly costing us to agree to these "hidden in plain sight" conditions.

We get a bit of a look at the Patriot Act's effect on privacy laws, and an even briefer mention of PRISM (which, unfortunately, makes the film a bit dated already, even only a year after it was made). There are even examples of people getting arrested by authorities for their Facebook and Twitter posts. (And one guy -- the "steak and cheese" author -- who did not!)

Does the film spread paranoia? Does it make Mark Zuckerberg the enemy? To the first question, no. While constantly on the verge of going too far, the film never does, and makes many valid points without ever sounding like a conspiracy theory. As to the second, this is more unclear. Zuckerberg is suggested to be too close to the FBI and other organizations, and certainly Facebook's privacy settings come under attack. But this is only a superficial reading -- the real message is that all tech companies, not just Facebook, are now going this route.

No wonder Netflix was promoting this documentary so hard. My girlfriend watched it first and quickly recommended it to me. It truly is one of the best documentaries I've ever watched, and in my Top 5!

I'll be re-watching it again next week, so hopefully I can add a bit more to the review once I re-watch it.

Firstly - The graphics, animations and typography used were wonderful, it really complimented the well thought out and structured film.

It gave an easy to view look at how the world is changing, and how these big companies/government agencies are a real threat to our privacy. The ONE thing missing from this Documentary, was how we (the people) can fight back against this kind of privacy violations, but then again.. can we fight back at all?

This is an important and frightening film, about how Google, Amzaon, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkdin - and IMDb? - harvest our personal information and onsell it to the highest bidder, or to the government. How we don't read that wodge of text in capitals comprising "Terms and conditions" before we click "Accept" - nobody could, it would take a month per year for everything we sign. But even when that text is brief and written in plain English, it gives those corporations unprecedented power over our personal information - including the right to change the rules without telling us, to increase their power without limit and without asking again, and to keep it forever, even after we have "deleted" it.

The film is entertaining, including how a seven year old boy was interrogated about something he had texted; how an Irishman on holiday in the US never got into the country but spent days in confinement instead, because he had used "destroy America" as a figure of speech in a tweet; how people planning a zombie parade during the Royal Wedding were arrested based on the social media planning; and how a TV crime writer was raided based on his Google searches.

I saw this a few days after "We Steal Secrets: the story of Wikileaks". It is the better film, letting the facts speak for themselves more.

And now I'm getting paranoid about what will happen to me for writing this....

I'll be brief. We're all being watched. Every second of our life. And I'm not exaggerating or being paranoid. That's just how it is. This documentary is really scary. And for a good reason. Because it is freaking scary.

Facebook and smart phones is the best invention NSA could hope for. Imagine that with just the right technology, anyone can tap into your phone and at any point of time they can see through your phone, they can hear through your phone, and even know what you're thinking at the moment. All their wet voyeuristic dreams come true.

So do yourself a favor, watch the movie, realize the truth, and join the forces to fight against mass surveillance.