Social Networks & Privacy

The Internet has for a considerable significant time been the acid test of ‘freedom of speech.’ But at what price to many unsuspecting individuals? Frequently celebrities are the objects of Internet video disclosures that are quickly spread all over the world by method of Internet services like YouTube, whose links are easily advertised on social network profiles such as MySpace and Facebook. But nearly as frequently, celebrities are made by the uploading of private videos of ordinary citizens, which are then electronically disseminated and blogged and thus spread like wildfire to each end of the world. The infamy which comes from lots of these tapes or photos being piped through so effortlessly can be devastating to the individuals who are exploited by their being spread. But who is to be called to account? an individual can’t be held to the responsible merely for passing onward an email or posting a public link to their Facebook profile.

The Internet and social networking sites are simply a more modern channel through which the diffusion of information has been made easier. As luck would have it, or fortunately, making every citizen with access to a computer a qualified reporter with the capacity to reach large numbers of audiences the world over. So it is not the social networks that are responsible for this betrayal of privacy, but the community at large itself. Social tradition flourishes on the passing around of tattle and information sharing. So long as you are not the injured, you have no objections forwarding that embarrassing video of a poor boy dancing around his room making believe to be a rebel fighter from Star Wars (The boy is at present under psychiatric care and has left on his education, on the off chance that you were puzzled). Websites such as TMZ.com survive only because of human longing for salacious trash and celebrity scandal.

Similarly, we must be aware of the Internet’s limitlessness, and the nonviability of control over its content. In today’s times, one must know that one’s actions could be on the Internet within seconds. With digital cameras, mobiles with movie-making capability and instant access to YouTube and Facebook, something you do could be passed around to your buddies and strangers alike as it is happening. We need to redefine what is private and what is public, as it is no longer safe to take for granted that everything we do will stay within our control. Modern methods have a trajectory of their own, and the Internet is a typical example something that can easily slip away from its original use and find many more functions as long as the multitudes demand it.