technoculture314-09

After listening to the lecture last week, I was quite intrigued and interested about the idea of privacy in the digital age. It is common knowledge that since September 11, 2001 with the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre Twin Towers that there has been and increase in surveillance across all forms of new media all in the name of anti-terrorism. The surveillance that I speak of takes place in many forms such as wiretapping, GPS tracking, CCTV and biometrics. A classic example of this can be seen with the implementation of the Patriot Act in the USA and the use of CCTV in the UK.

However, what I found more interesting is privacy in relation to social networking sites (sns) like Facebook. Privacy is a human right and there are many laws and legislations put into place to protect our privacy such as the Privacy Act in New Zealand. Why then is it such a grey area in terms of privacy online? In the readings entitled Facebook’s Privacy Trainwreck by Danah Boyd, it is argued that Facebook’s news feed has had much to do with disrupting privacy online. Friends are notified when one changes their relationship status, when they join a group, add a friend or write a comment on a peer’s wall. Boyd argues that this is a terrible lack of privacy; however, I tend to agree with Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook that they “didn’t make anything public that wasn’t already.” In my opinion this is just one of the cons that comes along with using sns like Facebook. Furthermore, if people do not wish others to read or view comments, status updates or photos it seems commonsensical that perhaps they shouldn’t post them.

Whether we choose to abstain from using new media or choose to accept it as an unavoidable intrusion into our lives and privacy, it appears as though this is here to stay, and it is something that we must learn to live with.