Privacy and identity are intertwined throughout our lives. They exist largely at opposite sides of a spectrum. As you share more about yourself you begin to establish an identity, and to maintain your privacy you must hide parts of your identity. This is especially true on the internet, where everyone has a chance to establish whatever identity they wish based upon what they choose to share. Some sites allow you create an anonymous identity which can only be known by the posts that you make, but others like Facebook require you to use your real name.
The requirement to use a real name, while not consistently enforced, makes Facebook different from many other networking sites. Facebook is grounded in reality. If John Q. Public is on a network like the Lehigh network, John had to use his jqp123@lehigh.edu mailing address. People can be relatively safe in assuming that John is a real person, and they can feel safe in adding John as a friend. Here the entire community has begun trading an important piece of their privacy, their real name, to help establish an identity within the community. Within the United States, where people live in relative safety, sharing your name with others that have also given up their names helps establish the community of Facebook.
Unfortunately, this trade makes less sense in countries where free speech is not protected. In a recent New York Time’s article, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/business/media/28social.html, Jennifer Preston points out that in oppressive countries, using your real name may allow oppressive regimes to discover your views and activities. While Facebook can serve as a valuable tool in organizing popular support and spreading information about the actions of a country, it explicitly requires users to trade on their names in exchange for an online identity.
Is there any easy way around this problem? You can still use Facebook while breaking its Terms of Service, but you could be kicked off at any time. Users could also lobby Facebook to consider changing their ToS for countries where freedom of speech is not as accepted as it is in the US.
This is a very interesting point you make her connecting identity and privacy. The internet allows us to make ourselves into who ever we want like you said and so that may allow us to avoid the problem of privacy because we aren't sharing the real us. We may be hiding behind the computer because of our fear of invasion of privacy or because we want to invade other people's privacy with our hidden identity or simply because it is exciting I guess. But, it all comes down to how infinite cyberspace is and how we can't ever protect ourselves completely unless we just stay off the internet and even then we may encounter problems in real life.
ReplyDeleteLike you mentioned that is a problem with Facebook that you may be giving away your privacy in creating a profile about yourself and what you think and do everyday...all that is simply found by searching your name. I don't think there is a way around it unless you want to decieve people by being someone else...but, then you miss out on interacting with your friends because your too busy hiding. I guess that may be where all the privacy settings come in with Facebook. Do they truly stop public from finding out information though? I always wonder if what I set is actually working or does Facebook just claim you are... hidden from public or hiding your wall and info from people searching for you?
Brittany I agree with everything you have said. Often time, I too find myself questioning whether the privacy settings on a site like Facebook actually do anything. I have heard that employers and other people can find out about you and see your pictures regardless of whether you have them blocked or not so what is allowing them to do this and why do privacy settings even exist if this truly is the case? It would be extremely deceiving if people weren't really who they said they were on Facebook and I am sure some people do this but that defeats the whole person of using it as a tool to connect with others.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually a bit surprised at how well the Facebook privacy settings work when just messing around casually.
ReplyDeleteI just did a Google search for both of you, and the majority of what turned up was tied to sports. One of the hits was the Sociology of Cyberspace Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sociology-of-Cyberspace/172584889460788, but based on your settings, I couldn't even click through to see your individual profiles. I could only see the things you'd posted to the SoC Facebook page.
I think with even a minimal amount of attention paid to your online identity, you will be able to avoid most employer searches, Either the employer will do a casual search, or they won't. If they're going to do more than a casual search, they would probably be collecting offline data as well, so I doubt there is much you could do.
If nothing else, you could always disable your account or go to maximum privacy when applying to jobs.
Jordan, you really make some great points. I agree that Facebook is unique in that it is grounded in reality. Yet at the same time, it's a bend in reality, a large deviation away from it. When before in our history could one person gaze through a vast window and see thousands of lives buzzing about? It is an unreal phenomenon. Facebook almost seems to be a perfect reflection of reality... but oddly, it has less curtains.
ReplyDelete