Internet Privacy
Where should we draw the line between privacy and safety? How should we protect internet users from the threats that exist today? Do you believe there’s any truth in the statement by Facebook’s CEO? How much personal information are you willing to share?
At first blush, Chatroulette appears to be an innocuous idea, yet another clever twist on the social networking fad: the website randomly pairs users – perfect strangers, in most cases – for one-on-one video chats. As the site has shot to popularity over the past few weeks, the latest darling of the fickle online crowds, it has also become a microcosm of the internet as a whole. While there is certainly plenty of people who wish to engage in spontaneous conversation via the service, a growing segment of Chatroulette’s users – a majority, perhaps – seems intent on shocking, disgusting or otherwise offending their chat partners. The ‘Wild Wild West’ days of the internet are behind us, but Chatroulette serves as a stark reminder that an unsavoury underbelly remains.
What are the threats that exist today? The old standbys – viruses, hacking, child pornography – are still around, but thanks to awareness efforts, growing ranks of the non-technically inclined are savvy enough to install firewall and anti-virus software. And many modern web browsers and e-mail programmes warn users before they click on potentially dangerous links. No, the biggest threat today is more subtle, more sophisticated and more insidious. Millions of internet users are voluntarily, albeit often unwittingly, surrendering. We are speaking, of course, of the threat to our privacy.
Part of the allure of Chatroulette is the anonymity, perceived or real. A famous cartoon, which first appeared in New Yorker magazine in 1993, illustrates a common argument: “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” That might have been the case in the pioneer days, but what are our expectations of privacy on the internet today? Video feeds are spoiling the fun for would-be canine web surfers, but without more context, a video is surely not enough to personally identify you. Many websites, however, record your every click, your every interaction, assembling a detailed profile. Despite the widespread use of pseudonyms on the internet, the more information that you share online, the easier it becomes to link you with your ‘real life’ identity.
What happens with pictures that you publish and ‘tag’ on Facebook or other social networking sites, for example? Even if you delete the picture, is it ever really gone or do traces remain in the dark corners of cyberspace? There is a parallel to be drawn with the old parable about rumor-mongering: taking back your words is as difficult as ripping apart a feather pillow atop a hill on a windy day and then chasing after each feather. Even the ephemeral nature of Chatroulette is illusory, as numerous ‘best of’ webpages have sprung up with still shots of strange, funny or lewd incidents, captured and posted for posterity.
In early January, Mark Zuckerberg, the 25-year-old CEO of Facebook, provoked a minor furor when he said, “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.” He might be right. More people do seem willing to share personal information, partly because it is so easy. But the bigger question is: what does it matter?
There are certainly benefits to be gained from the ‘intrusions’ into our privacy. Many of the services that we enjoy on the internet free of charge are ‘free’ precisely because we allow the companies to collect information on us. This information enables targeted marketing; we now see advertisements for products that match our personal profiles – our actual likes and dislikes – which dramatically increases our likelihood of clicking for more information and eventually making a purchase. For both the users and marketers, this is an improvement over the one-size-fits-all model of the early days of online marketing when the same ad would appear for everybody.
Marketing is one matter, but the question of privacy is also closely linked to safety. A man exposing himself on Chatroulette is disturbing, but still relatively harmless. But cyberbullying and grooming, to name just two examples, are flourishing because of the anonymity – again, perceived or real – offered by the internet. It emboldens people to behave in ways, to say things they never would in face-to-face situations. But there are ‘real life’ consequences of these actions, as the rape and murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall by a man she met through Facebook goes to show.
Time to spin the Chatroulette wheel one more time…
So what is your view on this?
Where should we draw the line between privacy and safety? How should we protect internet users from the threats that exist today? Do you believe there’s any truth in the statement by Facebook’s CEO? How much personal information are you willing to share?
Background Reading
- Data Privacy Day
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Electronic Privacy Information Center
- Insafe
- Privacy no longer a social norm, says Facebook founder, Bobbie Johnson, 11 January 2010
- Security and fundamental freedoms on the Internet, European Parliament, 26 March 2009
- Think before you post, ePolitix.com, 9 February 2010
- Online voyeurs flock to the random thrills of Chatroulette, Bobbie Johnson, 14 February 2010
3 Comments
Leave a commentLeave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading ...
Let’s be brutally honest-today privacy is a word which barely exist in peoples’ minds.
How many times have you thought of the word privacy when using Facebook, allowing other people to see what’s going on in your private life? How many times have you been aware of the risks involved in sharing informations, photos, thoughts with the rest of the world?
Internet and the social network made a lot in our lives: they connected us with those we don’t see, with those we would like to keep in touch with, or simply with those likeminded people we need to share our beliefs with. But something had to be sacrificed: PRIVACY.
Who to blame for that? No one really, as we internet users allow this to happen anytime, everyday. I think it’s not so uncommon to see today people very young (age range 8-12) who are already using Facebook together with very old people ( my grandpa is not an exception, who at the age of 83 wanted to use this new invention called Facebook).
A huge contradiction? Fact or Fiction? None of them actually, simply the reality of our 2010, full of social network and a new feeling of ‘’global village’’. But, can we really draw the line between privacy and safety? Not really. I very much doubt there might be an effective policy about safety for internet users. Even the FB’s CEO seems to be quite unsuccessful, as people are clearly not aware of the risks involved with the privacy settings.
There is a clear distinction to make when it comes to sharing informations: what is taken for granted by a youth might be potentially very dangerous for the privacy of a worker. So, personally i might share anything which doesn’t affect my academic life or working life, like photos of friends and so on. But definitely not up to share personal informations about my family, my economic status or my private life.
These are the rules of the game. Accept it or you are out. At least today, in 2010!
Chat rooms and communication tools are considered a modern way to engage in conversations and bond with friends. Still, people do not share so much information with colleagues or friends in their real life. That is because our computer is seen as our safe place where we can chat anonymously or under fake names. There’s no clear boundary of reality.
As a teenager I used to play lots of online games but I would always hide my true identity which in later life came as a habit in every communication tool I was using. I was trying to protect my privacy. Throughout that period I met a lot of people, some were considered ‘friends’, some were provocative with their behaviours, others would deliberately hurt you. Indeed this side of the Internet can be scary.
There’s no mistaking that if a troubled or introverted teenager encounters such people which can pose a potential threat then his emotional world is at sake. In fact there are many examples of young teenagers who put their lives in danger because they had either trusted people when they shouldn’t have or lost confidence in who they were or what they were doing.
Since then I have realised that it is not possible to truly find a friend in the internet, even if I have many friends who are now in a relationship or friendship with people they’ve met on the internet. In order to accomplish this I believe it is important to have strong values, be confident and lucky. For me however, the internet is only a place where I talk to people that I have already met and know them well and believe I can share information with.
It is not easy to distinguish the boundaries between privacy and safety. It is also quite common to trust people with personal information or even worse to twist personal information in order to show that you are older for example. This may be a powerful tool to protect your privacy but if it is used for a wrong purpose it can be dreadful tool which can lead to many dangers such as child pornography, rape, death. It is important to understand that if it is not possible to truly trust everyone you meet in every day life how can you trust someone whose name may not even be known to you?
Have we sacrificed our privacy willingly?
The Internet is a powerful tool that has revolutionized virtually every aspect of our lives, including how we socialize, creating the so called virtual communities through the social networks.
Nowadays more and more people discover these networks and acquire their personal profile. This popularity maybe derives from lack of communication and the loneliness that lead us to share certain things with other people. I think that the key ingredient to the success of these social networks is simply the alienation of the past decades, people don’t even know their neighbours but they seem ready to share all kind of information with someone holding the same beliefs or common interests even if he/she is in the other side of the world.
This new trend is far from safe especially as far as it concerns to younger people who sometimes driven from the enthusiasm of meeting new people they don’t fully realise the danger of sharing certain information with people that might not be who they tell they are.
My personal opinion is that parents should learn about their children activities online not by demanding but by asking them in a way that it could gain their trust .They should also express their concerns and advices in a positive manner so that they won’t oppose to them.
When it comes to adults it’s pretty much obvious what factors to consider and understanding the implications of the decisions they’re making. To sum up with aall people subscribed to these networks should be fully aware not only for the benefits but for the feedbacks as well and the owners of these pages should create safer privacy settings.