Privacy Priorities
Well this is the first time that I have ever put pictures containing my face on the internet. I put the emphasis on the "I" because there are quite a few that friends of mine have put on The Facebook and well, I don't want to be that jerk that refuses to let them tag me. However I chose to deal with The Facebook by having rather restrictive privacy settings turned on. No one can see pictures others have tagged of me unless they are already my "friend". I think I tend to lean towards being rather conservative with the information I give out on the internet.
I find one of the most fascinating aspects of this whole folksonomy thing to be the simple fact that people are willing to put a lot of information about themselves out there for the world to see. There seems to be a false sense of security around sites like Myspace and as I mentioned before The Facebook. It seems as though when some people find themselves in the realm of cyberspace, they forget the world around them is there at all. It is said that the two things people fear the most are death and public speaking. I find this to be rather feasible based on what I've seen in my life. Now either millions of people suddenly stopped fearing the ladder of the two or there is some sense of security that comes from the internet. Not seeing many people grabbing soap boxes and shouting about their lives on street corners or at public lectures it looks like there is something to this folksonomy thing.
Most people will argue that the reason we feel safe on the internet is the feeling of anonymity that comes with acting behind a pseudonym. However a pseudonym can only do so much to protect us. The greatest threat to anonymity on the internet is the amount of information people are willing to give out about themselves thinking "Well it's not my information, it's the pseudonym's.". If this were true we would not have so many creeps out there stalking children of course this also means we can track down those creeps (see every cloud has a silver lining:-). The sheer number of court cases revolving around Mysapce is a clear indication that anonymity is being lost often enough to matter.
Anyway, back to me finally putting myself on the internet... I put up some pictures from a trip I took to Europe over the summer specifically from my stay in Switzerland. I saw this rock and decided I had to climb it.
And here's the rest of the set.
By the way, if you ever want to have the most amazing vacation ever, I suggest staying at the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald (no they didn't pay/encourage me to say this).
Comments
I think what you say about people putting their personal information online is interesting. I don't really put a whole lot of myself online, but in my case (being a 20 year old male rather than a child exposed to predators) I feel that the dangers of putting too much personal information come more from financial information and identity theft than people knowing too much about a persons private life. I definitely agree with the fact that people seem to forget their information is up online for anyone to see. I remember reading some months ago about kids who would put pictures on their myspace with them holding weed or guns, as if some law enofrcement official would never see them.
Posted by: tcarr | January 27, 2007 02:30 PM
Hi! I share your sense of caution when posting photos (or information) for the world to see. You are right to be doubly cautious about Facebook. Although I am not a user, I have read recently that employers will sometimes access Facebook to see if applicants are future roaring drunks or irresponsible or crass or other perceived negatives. We will probably talk about this in the privacy unit, but I wonder if though that may be a lawful use of Facebook, if it is ethical to make judgements in such a non-direct manner. WHere is the line, and who gets to draw it?
Posted by: Ramonac | January 28, 2007 01:54 PM
Hi! I share your sense of caution when posting photos (or information) for the world to see. You are right to be doubly cautious about Facebook. Although I am not a user, I have read recently that employers will sometimes access Facebook to see if applicants are future roaring drunks or irresponsible or crass or other perceived negatives. We will probably talk about this in the privacy unit, but I wonder, though that may be a lawful use of Facebook, if it is ethical to make judgements in such a non-direct manner.
Great Pix of Switzerland! I was in Bern about 13 years ago.
Posted by: Ramonac | January 28, 2007 02:00 PM
I agree that I am pretty hesitant with the whole photos of myself and any information for that fact on the internet. It seems just about anything and everything can be posted on the internet for anyone to see. It took me a while to feel comfortable having a facebook account, because I didn't want random people knowing some personal information about me. Its disturbing that in some cases these programs are used to get individuals in trouble. I remember reading about these two highschool boys who got kicked off their varsity soccer team because a teacher viewed one of their myspace or facebook pages, and there was a photo of the individuals drinking some sort of alcoholic beverage.
Overall I think if you are going to be putting any information or pictures out there of yourself, you need to know that just about anybody can get access to it. Therefore you need to be cautious and selective with what you choose to display.
Posted by: Erin Milbrath | January 28, 2007 09:17 PM