Legal and Ethical Issues of Live Streaming explores the potential legal and ethical issues of using live streaming technology, citing that although live streaming has a broadcasting capability, it is not regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, unlike other broadcasting media such as radio or television. Without this regulation, live streaming is opened up for broad use and misuse, including broadcasts of horrifying incidents such as the mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019, sparking outrage and fear about the technology. Contributors provide a pathway to move forward with ethical and legal use of live streaming by analyzing the wide spectrum of critical issues through the lens of communication, ethics, and law. Scholars of legal studies, ethics, communication, and media studies will find this book particularly useful.
Shing-Ling S. Chen is professor of mass communication in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Northern Iowa. Zhuojun Joyce Chen is professor emeritus in the Department of Communication and Media at the University of Northern Iowa. Nicole Allaire is associate teaching professor in the Department of English at Iowa State University.
Introduction: The Sacredness of Life as Protonorm Clifford G. Christians The Dark Side of Watching: Theoretical and Ethical Challenges of Live Streamed Suicides Matt Corr and Tim Michaels Are We All Journalists Now?: Professional Ideology and the Legal and Ethical Implications of Live Streaming Wendy M. Weinhold The History of Liveness and Mass Shootings: Adapting to Social Media Chelsea Daggett Research Ethics of Livestream Data Nicolas M. Legewie and Anne Nassauer Fixed? The Law of Live-Streaming Brian N. Larson and Genelle I. Belmas You Can Doesn't Mean You Should: The Rationale and Ethics of Live Streaming Crimes Melissa L. Beall, Shing-Ling S. Chen, and Laura Terlip Watch at Your Own Risk: Trauma and Live Stream Viewing Melissa L. Beall, Shing-Ling S. Chen, and Laura Terlip About the Authors
Legal and Ethical Issues of Live Streaming is indispensable to properly understanding the social impact of live streaming. While the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has seen live streaming surge in popularity, it has for at least a decade had a significant role to play in some of the most important political and social events in the world. This book provides the necessary foundation for understanding this technological phenomenon in its ethical, legal, and, ultimately, human context. It asks the right questions and provides solid answers about the consequences of live streaming for individuals, communities, and the larger world around us. -- Steve Jones, University of Illinois at Chicago This is a remarkable book. It tackles an issue-the relationships between streaming media and the law-that has been largely neglected in communication research. This relationship is one, too, that is little understood as a result, even in media law classes that depend on texts that do little to deal with this topic. It is thus a timely and needed addition to the literature of the field. This book forces us to consider whether our commitments to free expression still have the same purchase as they did when professional media organizations controlled the distribution of news and information now that they have been supplemented (or even replaced) by those whose personal freedom of expression supersedes the rights of audiences who may not anticipate the shock of viewing, or the consequences that may flow from doing so. -- Robert S. Fortner, Calvin College This volume unmasks the neutral nature of live streaming technology. Questions about what constitutes live streaming social media are central to this insightful collection. This work frames legal and ethical issues surrounding voyeurism that demean the sacredness of human life. The authors examine the dangers of this social technological moment. Legal and Ethical Issues of Live Streaming adheres to the warning of Jacques Ellul, asking questions about what ought to be done, rather than unreflectively accepting all streaming social media. -- Ronald C. Arnett, Duquesne University
