Streisand effect

thumb|California Coastal Records Project photo of coastline including Streisand Estate (2002). The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby attempts to hide, remove, or censor information can lead to the unintended consequence of increasing awareness of that information. It is named after American singer and actress Barbra Streisand, whose attempt to suppress the California Coastal Records Project's photograph of her cliff-top residence in Malibu, California, taken to document California coastal erosion, inadvertently drew greater attention to the photograph in 2003. The Streisand effect is an example of psychological reactance, wherein once people are aware that some information is being kept from them, they are significantly more motivated to access and spread that information. Origin How long is it going to take before lawyers realize that the simple act of trying to repress something they don't like online is likely to make it so that something that most people would never, ever see (like a photo of a urinal in some random beach resort) is now seen by many more people? Let's call it the Streisand Effect. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20050105/0132239.shtml October 29, 2012 January 5, 2005 Since When Is It Illegal To Just Mention A Trademark Online? Mike Masnick techdirt: Legal Issues About Streisand Effect: Online phenomenon in which an attempt to censor or block information has the unintended result of drawing additional attention to it. Jane Bozarth 2010 Social Media for Trainers 8 0470631066 Wiley Publishing No matter how effective your rebuttal may seem to be to you, a response will "bump" the problem into greater prominence and relevance in the search engine results, which then turns your headache into a migraine. This is doubly dangerous since "bumping" the negative information potentially introduces the "Streisand Effect" into the equation, which is something to avoid if at all possible. It is commonly defined as a phenomenon in which an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information on the web backfires, causing greater publicity. 2009 John W. Dozier, Sue Scheff Google Bomb: The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet 0757314155 HCI 40 A phenomenon dubbed the Streisand Effect has already sparked attention. Similar to the scarcity principle, when demands are made to remove videos or documents on the Web, hits for those materials increase dramatically. It seems a "forbidden fruit" is all the more attractive. 2009 William F. Eadie 21st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook Sage Publications, Inc 1412950309 163 The inability to erase information has already taken on a name: the Streisand Effect. Canongate Books Why the Net Matters, or Six Easy Ways to Avert the Collapse of Civilization David Eagleman 0857860534 2011 At the bottom of the homepage is this [disclaimer] … But that hasn't stopped Beck's lawyers from trying to shut down the site -- resulting in more blowback and another manifestation of the dreaded Streisand Effect! Jim Emerson Teaching the controversy Scanners Chicago Sun-Times September 11, 2009 http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2009/09/when_did_you_stop_raping_and_k.html 2009-10-16 The “Streisand Effect” describes what happens when an attempt to get rid of content causes it to become even more permanent. Michael Fertik, David Thompson 2010 0814415091 56 Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Online Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier Amacom Mike Masnick, a blogger for Techdirt, coined the term 'Streisand effect' for events where attempts to remove content from the Internet cause it to spread broadly instead. Dr Alan Glazier 2011 1456738933 Searchial Marketing 146 AuthorHouse When the Streisand effect takes hold, contraband doesn't disappear quietly. Instead, it infects the online community in a pandemic of free-speech-fueled defiance, gaining far more attention than it would have had the information's original owners simply kept quiet. Andy Greenberg Forbes Forbes Publishing Internet: The Streisand Effect October 29, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/10/streisand-digg-web-tech-cx_ag_0511streisand.html May 11, 2007 More recently, in May 2011, the use of injunctions to gag the press led to a “Streisand effect” for the litigant footballer who sought an injunction to prevent the publication of details of his alleged affair. Andrew Hiles Reputation Management 2011 1849300569 Bloomsbury Publishing Say you discover that people aren't just talking about you, they're bashing you. Should you step in and try to stop them? Again, the answer is absolutely no! Leave them alone – you'll only make the problems worse and create a Streisand Effect if you try to hush them up. 2009 Kyle Lacy Twitter Marketing For Dummies For Dummies 0470561726 215 Mike Masnick, a blogger for Techdirt, coined the term Streisand effect for events where attempts to remove content from the Internet cause it to spread broadly instead. 2008 Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies Harvard Business School Press 1422125009 5 It fell victim to what is often called the “Streisand effect,” in which an attempt to repress information attracts more attention to it. The controversy over the album cover sparked millions of downloads and distributions of the Virgin Killer image from other sources. 28-29 Networks and States: The Global Politics of Internet Governance Milton L. Mueller The MIT Press 2010 0262014599 As the Streisand Effect gradually becomes required textbook material for any student of public relations, it's surprising to see that some organizations and individuals still prefer to operate in the pre-Streisand age of threats and court orders. For better or worse, the Internet does not adequately respond to the threat of legal action: One simply can't sue so many often anonymous individuals from so many jurisdictions. The New York Times The New York Times Company Free speech and the Internet: Living with the Streisand Effect Evgeny Morozov December 26, 2008 October 29, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/opinion/26iht-edmorozov.1.18937733.html The logic behind the Streisand Effect, however, does not have much to do with the Internet. Throughout history there has hardly been a more effective way to ensure that people talk about something than to ban discussions about it. 121-122 The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom Evgeny Morozov 2012 1610391063 PublicAffairs Though, the action of the US government was intended to suppress the leaks, the ‘Streisand effect’ made sure that the outcome was exactly the opposite. People all over the world, who hadn’t even heard of the Website, were typing WikiLeaks.org on their keyboards only to find a site-unavailable message, which increased their curiosity. People sympathetic to WikiLeaks, in the meantime, had voluntarily mirrored the website in order to keep it online. K Vaidya Nathan December 17, 2010 The Indian Express http://www.indianexpress.com/news/beware-the-streisand-effect/725720/ October 29, 2012 Beware the Streisand effect The Indian Express Limited The phenomenon is known as the Streisand Effect. The term refers to the likelihood that efforts to censor information will draw greater attention to it. 144 Digital Media Law Ashley Packard 1118336860 Wiley Blackwell 2012 Recently, a judge ordered some leaked documents concerning the Swiss bank Julius Baer to be removed from a Web site. But, instead of hiding the documents from public view, the judge's action drew more attention to them. The episode is the latest example of a phenomenon known as the "Streisand Effect." Robert Siegel talks with Mike Masnick, CEO of Techdirt Inc., who coined the term. Robert Siegel All Things Considered National Public Radio 'Streisand Effect' Snags Effort to Hide Documents February 29, 2008 October 29, 2012 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87809195 Since then, the tendency of cease-and-desist letters to spread unwanted or damaging information or images has been called the Streisand Effect. So it is almost impossible for an offended person to compel the total removal of something off the web that has already achieved some notoriety without making it more widespread. 25 Macmillan Richard Torrenzano, Mark Davis 2011 0312617917 Digital Assassination: Protecting Your Reputation, Brand, or Business Against Online Attacks Streisand Effect: When an attempt to censor or hide something from the general public results in its unexpected/sudden rise in popularity. Tim Tyler 2011 1461035260 Memetics: Memes and the Science of Cultural Evolution 176 Mersenne Publishing There's an Internet phenomenon called the Streisand Effect. It happens when a person or company tries to suppress a piece of information and, in so doing, unintentionally popularizes it. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_21/b4229035889849.htm October 29, 2012 BusinessWeek Technology - Sony: The Company That Kicked the Hornet's Nest Ashlee Vance and Michael Riley May 12, 2011 Bloomberg L.P. See also Censorship Freedom of speech Freedom of the press Internet Journalism WikiLeaks External links Streisand effect Streisand v. Adelman, assessment by United States House Committee on the Judiciary Category:Streisand effect Streisand effect Category:Streisand effect The Streisand Effect, www.thestreisandeffect.com What is 'The Streisand Effect'?, Search Engine with Jesse Brown, TVO. Streisand effect, Know Your Meme, Cheezburger, Inc. Lord Finesse Learning How The Streisand Effect Works: Tons Of People Re-Upload Dan Bull's Video, techdirt. Category:Internet Category:Freedom of speech Category:Psychology