Social Networking, Privacy, Audience Expectations, Ethical Publishing, Regulations

In the article "Is Internet privacy dead? No, just more complicated: researchers" written by Cecilia Kang (2010) in a Washington Post article, she discussed the issue of privacy in the social networking realms which are already being a "mainstream" in the Internet. Here, she stated that as social networking is becoming popular and active, people are beginning to be worried of their personal information being trespassed. 


Privacy issues have been voicing around over the world as information technology is currently developing in a rapid state. Media Awareness Network (2010) has defined privacy as a fundamental value of human rights and a true element of a democratic world. This also means that the act of trespassing someone's privacy means a sign of disrespect. In the Internet world, it's been seen that some social networking sites such as Google Buzz, as told by Kang (2010), having been turning a private Internet application like e-mail into a public network. 


On the other hand, on another example, Matt McKeon had outlined the changes of Facebook's privacy  from year 2005 to April 2010, which will certainly give a shock for its users. Based on the statistics below, the more "private" Facebook in 2005 slowly transforms itself into a public domain as the years pass by. 




The changes of privacy in Facebook (Source: mattmckeon.com)

Despite the concerns, according to a report written by Kirkpatrick (2010), Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg announced in a talk show that the age of privacy is no more relevant, as society is going open in public. Zuckerberg's viewpoint was not subscribed by Kirkpatrick (2010) in another article where he stated that privacy is still relevant and important, as users cannot fully manipulate their personal information fully. For example, the photos of you being tagged can be seen by other friends, and not everyone (that includes your boss!) will be satisfied with the events you are in. Thus, through these leaks, defamation and trespass can be possible through the lack of privacy control by such social networking sites. 


Meanwhile, as people begin not to trust social networks due to such problems, it is important for social networking users to take heed on their settings on personal information by controlling and deciding what and what should not be put into their network accounts. This should be done as a precautionary step as stalkers and cyber-hackers are lingering around the Internet. Hence, prevention is better than cure.


At the end of this topic, I would like to conclude that it's the users' responsibility to manipulate their information and to decide on which personal information should or should not be posted on their Internet profile as they realize that the Internet was not "private" after all. However, social networking corporations still have to abide by their responsibility to combat cyber crimes and trespass as it is a serious offence by the Law. 


References: 


Kang, C 2010, "Is Internet Privacy Dead? No, Just More Complicated: Researchers" viewed June 15, 2010, <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/03/is_internet_privacy_dead_no_ju.html> 

Kirkpatrick, M 2010, "Facebook's Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy Is Over", viewed June 15, 2010, <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_zuckerberg_says_the_age_of_privacy_is_ov.php>


Kirkpatrick, M 2010, "Why Facebook Is Wrong: Privacy Is Still Important", viewed June 15, 2010, <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_facebook_is_wrong_about_privacy.php>


Media Awareness Network, 2010, "Why Is Information Privacy An Issue?", viewed June 15, 2010, <http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/privacy/why_issue_privacy.cfm>