Privacy, Identity, Security, Trust - does anyone really care anymore??

The glaciers are melting on the internet’s Anonymous Age (Pearson 2009). As we have shifted to Web 2.0, anonymity is a block to the collaborative environment we now experience. An example of this was experienced by Donna Stephens in our Facebook group – because we use different names on different sites, it is difficult to find each other out there. I guess the key is to either use your real name wherever you go (difficult as many sites don’t allow use of an existing username) or set up a unique username and use it across sites. 

DeRosa (2007) reports that most people are not terribly concerned about privacy security from non-fraudulent sources. People are seeing the benefits of trading some privacy for practical benefits. Many don’t review privacy policies (myself included) before registering and perhaps this is because we all just want to get in there and start participating in whatever the site has to offer. We have become Privacy pragmatists (Raynes-Goldie 2010) - concerned about privacy but willing to trade some of it for something beneficial. 

Facebook’s design assumes we want to share more rather than less. Creepers (Raynes-Goldie 2010) can tap into my photos (like and even comment on them!) without ever being friends with me (via a friend in the middle). I have no control over photos in which I am tagged or comments said about me. People are starting to notice this invasion of privacy and unless FB does something to make privacy settings easier to change, it may well lose users to anther provider. 

I do agree with Nadine Bailey’s sentiment (INF506 Facebook Group under Hannah Gleeson’s post, 3^rd Jan) that “it’s the price we pay for having free social media”. 

So what to do? Quit SN altogether and know that your content is completely private? I don’t think so! The benefits of being involved far outweigh the possible abuse/misuse. If you want to submit content to a public place, you must accept that the potential audience (often unintended) may view and use your content for a different purpose than what you intended. To dive in blindly and throw all of our personal bits around is foolish. We should carefully consider what we broadcast, and be somewhat aware of how that information and content might be used – knowing the cost of our “informational transactions”. (Pearson 2009)

References:

Bailey, N. (2014). Facebook Post Comment. INF506 201390 Social networking for information professionals. Found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/548561898554825/

 

De Rosa, C, Cantrell, J, Havens, A, Hawk, J. & Jenkins, L. (2007). Section 3: Privacy, Security and Trust. In Sharing privacy and trust in our networked world: A report to the OCLC membership. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC. Retrieved 1/1/14 from http://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/reports/pdfs/sharing_part3.pdf.

Pearson, J. (2009). Life as a dog: Personal identity and the internet. Meanjin, 68(2), 67-77. Retrieved 15/1/14 from http://meanjin.com.au/editions/volume-68-number-2-2009/article/life-as-a-dog/.

Raynes-Goldie, K. (2010). Aliases, creeping, and wall cleaning: Understanding privacy in the age of Facebook, First Monday, 15(1), 4 January. Retrieved 15/1/14 from http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2775/2432.

Stephens, D. (2014). (Facebook Post). https://www.facebook.com/groups/548561898554825/permalink/584043065006708/?qa_ref=pp