‘…thoughts appropriate to reveal to friends and intimates are also appropriate to reveal to the world’
This is one sentence that popped in font of my eyes. Do the children of technology think that private matters are in fact the total opposite of that online?
But first of all, what is privacy? Privacy according to Wikipedia(2007), is ‘the ability of an individual or group to keep their lives and personal affairs out of public view, or to control the flow of information about themselves’. Technology and the internet has helped us tremendously to be more private. OH REALLY! Technology has helped ‘them’ actually to know more about us and to find us wherever we are. If you are on the phone and you hear a clicking sound, well someone is listening to your conversation. If your mobile phone is on, anyone can home in on you and find your location. Anyone can find out which websites you visit and what you search for. Scary right?
Be scared, be very scared! You can run but you can’t hide.
I have a friendster account as well as a blogger account, together with some other accounts with social network sites. Online, I try my best to be me but the temptation of being able to be someone else I am not offline is huge; ginormous! In secondary school, I have had fun going into chat rooms pretending to be a guy and talking to girls from my own school and asking them to meet me (sounds oh-so-wrong). Of course, right after the conversation, I would go up to these girls and ask them about this supposed meeting with a guy. Then I will break the news that the ‘guy’ they were talking to was me and that I was playing a joke on them. Well, lets just say that I made more ‘enemies’ than friends during my 4 years in secondary school.
Now, the major problem I face is of people who find my email address and phone number from the communites I used to be a part of. They find me and try to contact me. They then chat with me, and make themselves sound too good to be true. Just like in ‘The Net’. When I did not have the needed information of online predators, I almost fell into the trap of one during my secondary school days. This was due to the overwhelming information I posted online. Now I know better. I play with words and do not put everything up on any web site.
Most of us willingly put up information about ourselves online. That is the first step of destroying one’s privacy. The second step is when we put in more information than it is actually needed or required. Third is when someone else reads your profile and ‘saves’ information about you. And PRESTO! We have given birth to online stalking. We have heard of the US starting ‘Project Carnivore’ to infiltrate terrorist groups. We hear stories of the mafia and other underground groups ‘waging war’ using the vast technology and the internet.
We have to have ‘some kind of boundary between public and private in a world where self-revelation has become a social imperative’ (Rosen, The Naked Crowd, 2004). Google or Yahoo your name or anyone’s name. You will be able to find anything ranging from friendster profiles to blogs to school reports. You might know yourself, even be yourself, but how much is too much? How much do YOU want to publicise yourself to the millions of internet users all over the world? Are you willing to face the opportunity cost?
Rosen, J. (19th July, 2004). "The Naked Crowd". Retrieved on 9th March, 2007 from http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm
Sullivan, B. (17th October, 2006). "Privacy Lost: Does Anyone Care?". Retrieved on 9th
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