Adam Abelson
090226880
Alexandra
Boutros
CS400HA
February 28,
2013
The Illusion of Privacy in the Digital
Realm
Modern
technology has paved the way in which people are able to share their
experiences with the rest of the world. New social media facets have bestowed
upon individuals the ability to reach their friends, families and peers.
Unfortunately, there are consequences that accompany this new capability. There
is a large cost for sharing one’s personal thoughts, work and photos on the
Internet. Once an individual posts these online, they lose the rights to the
material, and it now becomes the property of the social media company. Thus, it
is evident that as people share increasing amounts online, they are losing
their privacy as companies such as Facebook and Instagram then own the rights
to the material.
“‘Freedom
of Culture’ has become a pressing issue with legal and ethical implications” (Wark
2010). It is through the social
media tool known as Facebook that
users ignorantly grant permission to the site to hold and control the content
that they release onto it. Within the privacy policy on the website,
it is explained that once a user deletes his or her content from the site,
copies of it are stored on backups belonging to the company. Surprisingly, this
does not shock the majority of Facebook users. Since
2009, it has been a known fact that Facebook
keeps your photos for up to three years, even if
you delete them off of the site. In addition, there has been a large amount of
public distress over third party applications obtaining user’s personal
information through the site. However,
one then wonders why so many users keep their accounts, perhaps due to
oppressive social norms or peer influence.
Instagram is an application used to edit and
post photos through smart
phones. It allows for people to follow your posts and allowing people to
feel connected to their favorite celebrities on a more personal level. What people are neglecting to recognize
the importance of is that once a photo is posted, Instagram
then owns it. Facebook, having bought Instagram, then can distribute
anything posted on the application by its users. Even after users learn of
this, they continue to participate in the photo sharing application. Perhaps
this is because it allows people to become a part of the public
sphere (Poor 2009). The public
sphere is very prevalent today because these online communities allow users to
connect with others that share their similar
interests, regardless of geographical location.
Not
only are social media facets the result of individuals yearning for community,
but they are also the result of people feeling like they have no voice in
everyday society. According to Rosen, online blogging allows individuals to
become their own journalists and advocate their ideals without repression
(Rosen
2004).
Unfortunately,
one must worry about more than the social media companies alone. Andersson states that peer-to-peer
based file sharing has become a prevalent activity in today’s society. This
sharing is completely illegal and unregulated, as it does not have permission
of the copyright holders (Andersson
2001).
While
the consequences of online sharing seem irreparable, there is already a
solution in place. Snapchat is an
application for smart phones that allows users to send photos to their peers
for a limited amount of time. What separates this application from other social
media networks such as Facebook or Instagram is that individuals are able to
control the amount of time a person can view the photo and any messages that
accompany it. After a set amount of time, the photo self deletes, comforting
individuals as they remain in control of their own content. Snapchat is the first step in rebelling
against lack of privacy on the Internet and the digital world.
Works
Cited
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The origins and impacts of Swedish filesharing: a case study, Journal of
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