Can Privacy Exist on the Internet?
You live your life online -- and anyone can read it. Should employers be able to troll your Facebook or MySpace page? Or should everything that you put online be accessible to anyone, anywhere? With increasingly popular social networking sites aggregating unprecedented volumes of personal data, the age-old issue of online privacy is once again rearing its ugly head. We ask NYU professor and social networking expert Clay Shirky (watch the full interview with Clay Shirky here) where to draw the line between personal and public online.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Benjamin Wright @ Nov 7th 2007 11:14PM
An idea: People could post legal terms of service on social networing pages declaring that employers and prospective employers are forbidden from looking at or copying from the pages. Such terms would be like No Trespassing signs on land. Some case law supports the notion that terms posted on a web site can restrict the right of visitors to gather information off the site.
Arguably, if an employer grabs information off of a site in violation of posted terms, and that leads to termination of an employee, then the employee could sue the employer for violating the terms of the web site.
Even if the terms are not legally binding on the employer, they could be ethically binding. --Benjamin Wright, Dallas, Texas, http://hack-igations.blogspot.com
nicoles7183 @ Dec 21st 2007 9:15AM
AN IDEA: Don't put anything out there that you do not want certain people to see!
Trisha @ Dec 21st 2007 9:18AM
In my opinion, if you do post something on the internet, You, want the world to see, you shouldn't expect privacy...Especially if it is immoral, illegal or just plain stupid...chances are , your Boss probably already knows what a dumbass you are.....You probably use poor judgement in other aspects of your life....I don't like the ideal of Big Brother watching you, but the minute you sign on to the internet,swipe a credit card,use an ATM, a debit card or grocery store awards card, you are making a paper trail for someone....there is no privacy. You can be paranoid the rest of your life OR try using better judgement.
Laurel Sheck @ Feb 8th 2008 11:53PM
Three Cheers! Finally,authorities,and hopefully parents,are taking this seriously.Here's a newsflash: facebook.com, the "safe" alternative to myspace.com, is anything but safe: As the parent of a 15 year old, I can tell you that facebook encourages "mean girl" comments with its "anonymous" features, that allow kids to leave uncensored, horrendous, and damaging remarks on another kids' page, damaging their reputations for years. But more important: facebook has a level ABOVE their "anonymity box"-it's called "secrets". Once your child enters the "secrets" box, they can access others "secrets" or, to be accurate, the secual fantasies of others. Read this parents and watchdog groups: the "secrets" box is a direct link to verbal online hardcore pornography. I'm not talking about facy language that some may interpret as porn and others may call teenage fun; I am talking about seriously hardcore verbage that would NEVER be in Playboy, but might appear in Hustler.And PS? facebook.com, because it's so "safe" bypasses ALL your parental controls. And PPS? Unless your kids set a special setting, EVERYONE has access to your child's home page, and all that comes with it. Any forum in which you would write things that you wouldn't dare to say face to face, with full accountability,is not healthy, and is not safe.