Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows how the accumulation of information by governments and business in the digital age can have a detrimental effect on one’s personal privacy. A voice-over notes that 'in any sophisticated society information is power’ and the clip includes music that builds in intensity, voice-over interviews, footage of computer screens and of a darkened room containing mainframe computers and surveillance camera footage. The clip ends with a voice describing the use of computers to process personal information as 'slowly destroying representative democracy’.

Educational value points

• The clip addresses the issue of personal information being used or held by governments and businesses. Invasion of privacy can occur when personal details are stored on a database. In Australia the Information Privacy Act 2000 (IPA) contains ten Information Privacy Principles (IPP). The Data Security IPP requires that 'personal information must be protected from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure’ (http://www.ssa.vic.gov.au).

• Since the clip was made in 1992 computer speed, storage capacity and the sophistication of firewalls, software and networking have all increased dramatically. These developments allow for both an increase in the potential illegal traffic of personal data and more security of personal information behind 'protected’ or 'secure’ sites. Online banking is one example of the increasing confidence with which people are divulging private information over the Internet.

• There is a number of privacy and consumer advocacy organisations in Australia. These include the Australian Privacy Foundation and the Council for Civil Liberties Organisations, which has a number of state-based offices, the Australian Consumer Association and Electronic Frontiers Australia. There are also arms of government, such as the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, and various state commissioners and ombudsmen.

• This style of documentary uses persuasive techniques to convey a particular agenda and ideology. Disembodied voices all present the same case of loss of liberty and emphasise the negative with phrases such as: 'slowly destroying representative democracy’, 'don’t put any information into the hands of a government agency’, and 'the terrifying accretion of power’. The visuals suggest an electronic brain linked to surveillance cameras and computer networks.

• The soundtrack promotes a sense of foreboding and apprehension. A mixture of electronic elements and a repeating violin phrase set to a quickening beat is reminiscent of the ever-building scores of Michael Nyman and establishes a sense that something frightening is going to happen. Voices are heard during the clip but none of the speakers are seen. This also helps to create a sense of disconnected authority.

• The accent of the voice at the beginning of the clip is English but all the other accents in the clip are distinctly American. This helps to establish the sense that the issues addressed in the clip are global problems that affect people worldwide. It implies that computer technology has no boundaries and that problems associated with technological advances can affect people everywhere.

• The clip was written and directed by Bill Bennett (1953–). Bennett has been writing and directing for film and television since the early 1980s and some of his credits include Shipwrecked (1984), Kiss Or Kill (1997) and The Nugget (2002).

• Beyond Productions produced the documentary You Have No Secrets (1992). Beyond Productions was established in Australia in 1984 and specialises in making factual programs for an international market.

Footage of flickering computer screens.
English voice-over The kinds of technological systems we’re now developing enable vast quantities of information to be stored and accessed rapidly. That represents a terrifying accretion of power, because in any sophisticated society, information is power.
American voice-over 1 Don’t put any information into the hands of a government agency or a private company that you aren’t willing to have everybody know about.

The footage switches to surveillance monitors of an outside street.
American voice-over 2 Information is big money. And the more precisely I can tell what type of person somebody is, the more money it’s worth.

A pixellated face.
American voice-over 3 They can find out just about anything about anyone, anywhere, legally. Unfortunately, the government has access to far more information than we do and, although it should be public, they normally do not disclose.

Columns of flickering lights in a darkened room.
American voice-over 2 As long as we’re living in a relative democracy, as long as government is relatively benign, there is not much wrong with all this. But it is a gamble.
American voice-over 1 The development and use of computers by public and private institutions is slowly destroying representative democracy.