Yana,
Weinstein (2013), how important is our privacy?
We are living in an era where Facebook's Graph Search gives strangers greater
access than ever to our "private" data and Google arbitrarily steals our passwords and emails (during its Street View project).
Did our forefathers misunderstand the demand for privacy as an inalienable
right for law-abiding citizens in democracy? Is privacy dead? Do we care?
We are living in an era where Facebook's Graph Search gives strangers greater
access than ever to our "private" data and Google arbitrarily steals our passwords and emails (during its Street View project).
Did our forefathers misunderstand the demand for privacy as an inalienable
right for law-abiding citizens in democracy? Is privacy dead? Do we care?
Great comparison by Juan Enriquez, “youronline life, as permanent as a tattoo.” Truly does highlight how long lasting the effects of our social media presence is. Similarly this concept shows the range
in opinion in how far we dive into this online world; for some tattoos are a
great thing and the fact they are permanent is more of a bonus. On the other
hand, for some people tattoos are thought with doubt and regret, also very like
online interaction and postings. Your reference to “real life” also shows that
contrast. Some people prefer the online world as it offers no restrictions and the
ability to be who we want, presenting what we want to others, compared to the reality
of real life where some people may not see themselves as important or
successful. Especially now the celebrity image has grown, and we are all accustomed
to idea that to be famous means you have achieved success. Some people today
hold themselves to this level and use Facebook, Twitter etc. to broadcast
themselves, and it is these people that care less about privacy factors. You make
a good point with regards to updating settings each month and checking how our
profile may actually appear to different users. As Whittaker (2011) mentions “your
account settings are at the heart of your Facebook.” However once it is set up it is easy to forget to
check the privacy or possibly you not consider privacy as a big deal. Hopefully
these people don’t have much to lose if someone did hack their information, or
if a bad post got into the wrong hands of say their boss or mother. The idea is
to present information and pictures that you wouldn’t mind being on the front
of a newspaper. Oliver references that “When
it comes to face-to-face communication, we act differently depending on whether
we are with our family, friends, coworkers, or strangers. We control our
privacy and how these people perceive us by making adjustments to our attitude,
attire, diction, and message. This strategy has worked for thousands of years. Unfortunately,
many people continue to struggle with controlling their online and electronic
communication in a similar manner.” As technology
processes so will the privacy settings, however so will the ability to
dismantle these settings. Hopefully people use some common sense when participating
online, and consider the real life risks associated with social media channels.
great thing and the fact they are permanent is more of a bonus. On the other
hand, for some people tattoos are thought with doubt and regret, also very like
online interaction and postings. Your reference to “real life” also shows that
contrast. Some people prefer the online world as it offers no restrictions and the
ability to be who we want, presenting what we want to others, compared to the reality
of real life where some people may not see themselves as important or
successful. Especially now the celebrity image has grown, and we are all accustomed
to idea that to be famous means you have achieved success. Some people today
hold themselves to this level and use Facebook, Twitter etc. to broadcast
themselves, and it is these people that care less about privacy factors. You make
a good point with regards to updating settings each month and checking how our
profile may actually appear to different users. As Whittaker (2011) mentions “your
account settings are at the heart of your Facebook.” However once it is set up it is easy to forget to
check the privacy or possibly you not consider privacy as a big deal. Hopefully
these people don’t have much to lose if someone did hack their information, or
if a bad post got into the wrong hands of say their boss or mother. The idea is
to present information and pictures that you wouldn’t mind being on the front
of a newspaper. Oliver references that “When
it comes to face-to-face communication, we act differently depending on whether
we are with our family, friends, coworkers, or strangers. We control our
privacy and how these people perceive us by making adjustments to our attitude,
attire, diction, and message. This strategy has worked for thousands of years. Unfortunately,
many people continue to struggle with controlling their online and electronic
communication in a similar manner.” As technology
processes so will the privacy settings, however so will the ability to
dismantle these settings. Hopefully people use some common sense when participating
online, and consider the real life risks associated with social media channels.
Kelly Apfel
References
Oliver, John. West Bend, Social Media Best Practices
Weinstein, Mark,
2013. The Huffington Post, Is Privacy Dead?
2013. The Huffington Post, Is Privacy Dead?
Kelly, awesome post. I'm concerned that there are to many people hiding behind social media today. I agree completely that people are only chasing the idea of being famous. My fear is that this is only going to get worse. I don't see how social media will be less intrusive on society in the next 5-10 years. I think that traditional forms of communication will continue to decline. Loren
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly! Thank you for an interesting post to a very fascinating topic. Clearly, rights to things such as privacy have been an ongoing issue since our country’s inception. Yana definitely raises an important point of view when she asked not only if privacy was dead, but also if anyone cared. Your reference to Juan Enriquez is interesting because in many ways what we post online can be viewed in a similar fashion as a tattoo. What we post can be out there for the world to view for a very long time. Obviously one adds content to portray themselves in a positive light, but sometimes others choose to include content that portrays others in a more negative light. Unfortunately, that is not too difficult to do and probably happens more frequently than people would think. However, I would argue that the negative perception of what is initially shared can be overcome and changed in a more timely fashion that what people think. In today’s society people have such short attention spans as they constantly look for the next thing, whatever it is. It is very similar to building a brand and brand maintenance. Back to Yana’s point and question, unfortunately many don’t seem to care about their privacy rights. Some do not care about an inaccurate, manufactured brand simply because it is inaccurate and manufactured under false pretenses. More often than not, this can and will be overcome as an accurate brand is once again built. Thank you again for a very interesting post on such a fascinating topic!
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ReplyDeleteLoren and Joe,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response.
Loren, I agree with your point regarding things getting worse. I can only see social media forums spreading even further throughout the world and the online obsession becoming more apparent. I come from a very small village in Scotland, where now even my mother has Facebook, which this was someone with no tech savvy strengths or even interest, however now she is all about Facebook :) which im not sure yet if its a good thing or not ")
Joe to your point, i agree that people have such a short attention span nowadays that hot topics come and go so fast. But usually negative topics spread faster and stick around for longer, therefore we should all be very careful about the information we put out there and be mindful of who can see it.
Kelly
So weird, I just saw this!
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