Thursday, February 20, 2014

Nothing to Hide

Although I would agree that I don't necessarily have anything to hide, that doesn't mean I like people looking. I believe in this day and age technology allows people to dig much deeper into your personal life than most people would believe. I don't have any incriminating photos of myself or inappropriate comments/ statuses, but again, I would rather not have that information accessed by most of the public. As a junior who is currently seeking summer internships, I know that many companies do searches on potential candidates so I try to keep my online image clean. However, as demonstrated in the in class film the other day, Government, Businesses, and even average tech savvy people are able to access a large amount of information. Some information I don't necessarily care about, but things such as my financial status, personal preferences, and even information as to where I am and where I live which I believe should not be accessible in my opinion. I worry that if this information where to get into the wrong hands that it could possibly have dire consequences. I could potentially have my identity stolen or if someone wished to do me harm, they could find my or my families whereabouts. It is important to me that I still have my own privacy and that whatever I share on social media with my friends, or even my emails addressed to a specific participant, should remain exclusive to that group.

While I am adamant on having my own online privacy, I do understand that much of this monitoring is for the safety of the nation (Which I support). However, I would question some of the practices of some corporations selling this information the way Facebook does. I think it was wrong of Mr Zuckerburg to comply with the CIA and release these records to the government. They were trusted with peoples personal information and simply handed all of that over without any question of whether or not it was morally right to do so. Perhaps the most troubling thing about that was the fact that they did not notify anyone about this release of information. I know if I were warned of this impending action, I would have deleted my Facebook before any records were made of it. I respected Twitter and their handling of their similar situation. They at least notified certain people that the Gov was attempting to pursue them and gave them an opportunity to take down their account or delete their posts about whistleblowing activities.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with everything you said here. I feel that I have nothing to hide as well but I am more concerned about my safety. All of the information that is available about where I live and everything about my family, scares me. It should not be accessible by the public. When it comes to social media, I use it in a positive way and to be connected with my friends. I post only appropriate things and I never put myself in a situation that could later be viewed as a negative aspect towards me that the public could see. I think that some people however, need to reevaluate their lives and what they post on social media. They need to be aware that EVERYTHING they post is then available to anyone.

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