Public Anomie
Jul 07, 2010
No Comments by Oliver Benjamin
How The Internet Has Destroyed Privacy
Everyone knows the old adage ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch.’ That is, if someone offers you something for free, you can be pretty sure there are strings attached.
The Internet seems to have turned this timeworn chestnut on its head — these days there seem to be no end to the free services available to the average netizen of the World Wide Web. From free email like Hotmail to free online photo storage like Flickr to full-blown software suites like Google Docs, everyday things you once had to pay for (snail mail, photo albums, software) now increasingly come at no charge. That’s what you’re meant to think, anyway.
A humorous (and scary for some) bumper sticker is making the rounds in the United States that says ‘You can’t hide your browsing history from God.’ Yet it may not be some omniscient deity one has to worry about. The fact is that all these free services are storing everything you do in huge data banks for marketing and research purposes. In The Cost of Free, an episode of a recent BBC series called The Virtual Revolution, the narrator shows that someone with access to that data could find out things about you you’d never want them to know. In fact, as an experiment, a hacker did just that — using deductive reasoning to trace down a single US woman by the things she searched for via her AOL (America Online) browser, triangulating her identity by the data trails she left behind.
It’s enough to make your skin crawl. Most of us don’t realise it, but everything we have ever searched for has been recorded. And it is not likely to just sit there. At some point in the future, it’s probable that computers far more advanced than the ones we have today will easily be able to mine though decades of data and piece together a picture of our lives, much the same way historians do about famous figures through their letters and correspondence. Only the amount of information we expose about ourselves, just in the ordinary acts of browsing Google or Yahoo, is in order of magnitude, more rich with detail than a few letters, not to mention far less censored.
This all would be bad enough if we weren’t such willing participants in the sabotage of our own secrets. Certainly the most astonishing revolution in our attitudes about privacy has come as a result of the incredible rise of the social networking site Facebook. Lured by the thrill of sharing information with friends, untold millions of people are at this very moment laying themselves bare to the world, so to speak. Yet only recently have the implications of our Facebook behaviour come to light.
One thing people were shocked to find out was that you can never actually delete your data. Sure, you can remove it from your ‘wall’ or your messaging inbox, but it’s still there on Facebook’s servers. Forever. That photo your college pal posted of you drunk and passed out on the floor? Immortalised. Your brief membership in the Miss Piggy fan club? Not as brief as you think. That insulting comment about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg? Let’s just hope he’s the more forgiving type of power-mad CEO. Facebook continues and will continue to use any and all your data for marketing purposes, even stuff you wish you’d never let out of the bag. And it’s unclear just what they consider themselves legally able to do with those factoids of your life.
As many pundits have pointed out, however, we have only ourselves to blame. Fans of reality shows regularly bear witness to the shamelessness people display when confronted with an opportunity to be the centre of attention. Facebook capitalises on this bizarre human compulsion by offering everyone a sounding board, making them feel important, and helping them to connect with people — even people they don’t particularly care for. But appealing to our most base and unflattering drives is what marketers do, and Facebook has merely fulfilled a need that has gone unchanged since cavemen jockeyed to tell stories and gossip around the campfire.
Recently a ‘Quit Facebook Day’ was organised. It was a total flop. A tiny percentage of people cancelled their accounts — many of whom didn’t realise that their data wasn’t going anywhere anyway. For better or for worse, it seems that social networking is here to stay and we will all have to get used to the idea that our lives are no longer wholly our own. Even those who are circumspect about keeping privacy controls locked down and posting only what is necessary can’t keep their friends from tagging them in embarrassing pictures taken late one night down at the pub. And this is true even if they don’t have a Facebook account at all, or even any ‘friends’ — thanks to Facebook, that word has all-but lost its meaning.
Andy Warhol famously said that in the future, everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes. The implication of that statement was unclear at the time — it seems that we will be famous for fifteen minutes whether we like it or not.
Religious people have always felt that they had to be on their best behaviour because ‘God sees everything’ — even your browsing history, as the bumper sticker says. Yet perhaps humankind no longer needs religion (or Father Christmas) to feel that worrying sense of being watched and held to account. Technology may be rapidly and irreversibly taking over the responsibility.
Thoughts???? Why do we so freely give up our privacy?
I think this blog is extremely interesting! It is super scary to think about all those facts, that none of it is truly deleted, and even worse, that people can find you so easily. Looking back now, and knowing all about social networking, I wish I would have never got a facebook. Facebook can be so damaging to your image it isn't even funny! People you don't even know can see things you wouldn't want your best friends to see. Employers can look at your facebook and decide whether they want to hire you or not, based on things that aren't even "visible" on your actual facebook account. This blog is a reality check! Wouldn't it be nice for use to have known all this BEFORE we put our lives online?!
ReplyDeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you one hundred percent about your comment we are all already too deep into the facebook world. There isn't much that we can do now, we have already made stupid decisions to post stupid pictures, post stupid comments, that may not only harm our own image but our friends and family's as well.
I also like what you said about being careful about what you post. Now knowing how many people can see all your information you should be extremely careful in what imprint you are making in this social networking. This stuff is going to stick with us forever. We should take the time to make sure our "friends" are actually our friends. We need to make sure that we are keeping ourselves safe. Also we should be careful who your "friends" are because you always have the possibility of people posting things on your wall or pictures that you don't want others to see!
I think that we are all into using social networking sites and not too worried about giving out our information because we think nothing of it at the time. People these days share everything through facebook and other social sites because they don’t think anything of it, but in the real world you are exposing yourself to everyone to see and it’s not so private anymore. Using sites like these can be really harmful to your life if someone gets a hold of some information that you didn’t want them to see. People don’t think of facebook of sharing their information to everyone and think of it as a site to look up old friends to get in touch with them and talk to them. We give up our privacy because we don’t think anything will happen. If you post one bad status, comment, or picture your reputation can be wrecked as quick as you post that information or picture. I think that we need to start becoming aware of our surroundings and the people in it and keep our privacy to ourselves, so nothing horrible happens in your lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that we realized what Facebook and other social networking sights were getting us into. I for one did not think about my personal information being stored forever when I created a Myspace account years ago. Looking back now I wish I had never “posted” a lot of the information that I did. Admittedly I use Facebook everyday and continue to post information frequently. It was not until we talked about the idea of “nothing being personal anymore” in class that I realized how big of an issue this really is. Looking back now I can think of specific things about me posted on the internet that could cost me job opportunities and even affect my ability to get into graduate school. And I thought I was extremely careful. It is truly frightening to think that absolutely anyone can “get to know you” from across the world. This was a major eye opener for me and I plan to make my personal information a little less accessible, if this is even possible.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think we necessarily freely give up our privacy. No one really wants embarrassing pictures or bad break up messages to go public, it just happens. It is definitely true that if you use the internet, or know someone who does, somehow and someway you are on the internet. Today you can type in your name and everything that is about you including news articles, MySpace, facebook, ect. will come popping up to the public, but that doesn’t mean we want it to. Most people take all the precautions they can to keep people out of their lives, but when bank accounts, classing requiring facebook and twitter, and so many other parts of our lives requiring the internet, we can’t not use it. In another way I think celebrities use that to their advantage to keep us “interested” in their lives. Some of us could be doing the same thing. I know for sure I have at least ten friends on facebook that post more than 10 photos of themselves a day. I know some don’t realize that they are putting themselves out there for the world to see, but I also know some do it for the attention it gets them. I think it depends on your personality.
ReplyDeleteFor Facebook I think people do give up their privacy so much easier. Now you can say where you are and who you are with. Some people do this way too much. When they do this they are definitely giving up their privacy way too easily. There are other things though where people can't choose whether or not they want to give up their privacy. For instance, just go on Google and type in someones name. You can find out a lot of stuff about a person just by doing this.
ReplyDeleteWith Facebook, I think people didn't actually realize how permanent what we put on there really is or the consequences that come along with it. Now, even if it's set on private, it's really not private. Employers, schools and anyone else who has the ability can get onto a Facebook page that is set on private and see what is there. This can seriously affect a person. It could keep a person from getting into a school or getting a job because of some of the things they have on their Facebook page, whether they put it there or not.
The whole internet thing is crazy. The things people post and intend to have others see and react to is rediculous. The internet should be for people communicating with people that they are not in close connection with or just to talk to people. The concequences of expressing things on facebook come out eventually and they are obvious. People paste their whole life on there which is not good at all it is great to hear exciting news and special things everyone is excited to share. Now a days everytime you post on your "wall" it shows your location when you post. We express our lives so much on the internet because we want others to know what we are doing and to get some attention (sometimes). It has really changed the word "privacy" and what it means to keep things to ourselves.
ReplyDeletePeople willingly give up all of their information on networking sites like Facebook because it has become the social norm of this new technological era. We post anything that we want on these sites with little or no discretion because our definition of the word privacy has changed drastically over the past twenty years. Nobody seems to care because they talk to their main group of friends or acquaintances online without thinking about their other 800 friends who can see everything that they are doing. This is the scariest part about Facebook, most people my age that get friend requests from random people are too nice to reject them, instead they just accept everything that comes their way without knowing the possible ramifications. The way that most people use networking sites like this is inappropriate and unprofessional. In order to use these sites in an appropriate manner people need to understand that EVERYONE can see everything that they post so they should act as they would in public in front of people that they have never met. I think that the biggest reason people are sharing whatever they please at any time is because when they are posting things they don't see the entire community of people that can see it, they just see themselves in front of a computer so they share whatever thoughts and feelings come to mind. I think another big issue with online networking is the increasing amounts of fake profiles that are created by companies to monitor prospective employees or by people that whose main goal is to stalk other people they don't know. With this kind of activity happening, it is neither smart nor safe to have a feature on a website that reveals your exact location as you post information. Overall, to keep networking activity safe i think people just need to be educated on the topic of online privacy and let them make a decision from there.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI agree that a majority of people use Facebook as a tool that is the only way for their voice to be heard on a daily basis. They don't bother to think if what they have to say has meaning or not because they just want to say something whether it makes them appear stupid or not. Many people just don't understand that most people (including their friends) do not care what they have to say. The FB junkies that post status' all of the time are just using it as a way to kill time. I think that boredom is the main reason people use this site excessively and the reason as to why the things that people post are worthless and stupid.
Sydney G,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that facebook is basically running some peoples lives and that a phone call would be just as easy to talk to another person. I also understand people use facebook differently. Yes, it may give up our privacy, but I have found it very useful. In my calc class we made a group of the two classes and the nights before a test or quiz alot of people including the teacher was on there to answer questions. This is just one example of why I don't think we should get rid of facebook.
I think the reason why people are so willing to sacrafice somewhat private information is because everyone at some level wants to be heard and have a chance to express there emotions. I dont know if there is an exact term or definition to describe the human need to express ideas, emotions, or concerns but facebook offers that service in a very secure way. Instead of having to confront a person directly and talk about something (which can be very hard for some people) it is much easier to post it on a sight that you will recieve very little emotional heartache. Facebook gives the impression that someone is hearing your ideas, and your not alone in your thoughts because people are repeatedly reading them. I agree that this can be a dangerous thing because the less random people know about you the better and safer you will be. Although the idea of facebook is quite innocent, connect with people you cannot usually, stay in touch with family and maintain friendships with people you usually couldnt, it has still manifested itself into something uncontrollable and most definetly changed are society forever. Whether this change is for good or better is something we will just have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteBeth,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about how Facebook has actually become worse now. It seems like every month or so they add a new feature that invades your privacy even more, and they hide this and desribe it as a more convient feature. People knowing my location at all times is in no way conveint.
Hailey,
ReplyDeleteI relate to where your coming from when you say that you had no idea what facebook would become or what it would imply for our personal life. It is weird that even though we know these things it is almost impossible for us to stop. Facebook has in reality become an addiction for a lot of people.
Matt-
ReplyDeleteI have never thought about it that way. I guess all humans do need to express ideas and emotions and the internet is a great way to do so. In fact we are doing it now! I do think that many people take this way too far however and share information that could be used to harm them! I guess the internet isn't such a great place to share all of your ideas after all!
Nicole-
ReplyDeleteI too am "addicted" to Facebook and I know we are not alone on this one! Facebook and other social networking sights are definitely here to stay! This also means that the information we post is not going anywhere either! I guess we all need to think about how the things we do on the internet now will affect us in the future!
I think we so freely give up our privacy because everyone else does. We just follow the crowd. Another reason we give out our privacy, is because we want someone to listen to us. It's a chance to say whatever you want and you know someone will see it and read it. It's a way to express yourself in a way. Facebook is definitely taking over the world and is definitely taking over my life! It's so sad that whenever I come back to my room after class I check my Facebook. There are positives of Facebook though, keeping in touch with family from other states, friends from different places, and showing pictures of your families to them. But, for the most part we are using Facebook for the wrong reasons, to creep on people, and chat to friends down the hall from us.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely scary to think what you're doing on Facebook and on the internet people can see exactly what your doing. Even though we think it's private, it's not! We really need to stop using Facebook so much and we need to start realizing the internet is not private.
Tim,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how employers are starting to look at their prospective employee's face books to see what they are doing. I know for a fact companies do this, my mom works for a company and they look at interns face-books to make sure they aren't trouble makers.
I don't think we're in an age where it's that we're just letting people (or the internet) have access to our privacy, but rather it's that we have no choice. Our society is being built on the technology that was once science fiction. Like Orwell's "1984" and Huxley's "Brave New World," it seems as though our privacy is non existant from the time we're born. Hospitals take down our stats on computers and store them within their software, which a hacker could easily access, given if they had the skill. Another point I just want to make is if people make such a big deal about releasing their private information, then why isn't anyone suggesting that we return to the "good ol' days" when computers didn't exist and we maintained privacy in our homes? Is anyone really willing to give up all the advantages that technology has given us? My guess is probably not. How many of us would be willing to write 20 page papers by hand (which I've heard we'll have to do in writing intensive classes)? I know I wouldn't. We aren't the one's releasing our privacy to the world, but rather it is our very own society/governmental systems that don't want us to have it. It is not too presumptuous to believe that we soon will have cameras in our homes watching our every move (if you don't get the reference, read the two books I listed above). I guess we'll just have to wait and see how long people are going to allow society to control us like this.
ReplyDeleteNicole,
ReplyDeleteI like your point that just because you don't put something up on your facebook, doesn't mean that someone else hasn't. Tagging photos is one way that sometimes unwanted information can be spread through the internet. I have had some of my friends post pictures of me on facebook without my consent. And I'm the kind of person who is not so willing to place my face out for the world to see. That's the only bit of anonymity that I can control for myself, but unfortunately everybody else do not hold the same reserves as I.
I guess for me I always realized that putting things on the internet was risky but after reading what you have posted on the blog I will admit that it was eye opening for me! I think we often forget that sometimes we can’t completely help what gets put on the internet about ourselves. Like the information given, our friends put things on and tag us in pictures all the time. And let’s be real here, they never ask us before they do it.
ReplyDeleteanother thing that I forget is that just because I delete something doesn’t mean that is is gone. When I think about all the information that the government, google, Facebook and huge corporations have it is SUPER creepy to think about!!So although we delete things from our eyes, it is still there for someones else’s eyes to see.
As far as Facebook goes after we talked about it in class on the 8th of November, I really thought about deleting my Facebook. I didn’t end up following through but I honestly was seriously thinking about it. I guess the thought doesn't count unless I follow through though. I didn’t have a Facebook until the very end of my senior year and sometimes I wonder if I really need it. Defending it though I don’t want to delete it because it IS a great way of keeping in contact with people. The problem occurs when people add people they don’t really know and just try to have a ton of friends. I think Facebook would be more safe if people only used it for what it originally was created for. I think that with time it has just gotten out of hand.
Other than Facebook there are other ways that people can get themselves into trouble, such as youtube, maybe posting videos that they really shouldn’t. I agree that the internet can be scary but I also feel that it is one of the best things ever. It just depends on the way that people decide to use it. The more responsible you are the safer you are. For the most part everyone can control their internet identity. If you don’t want your friends to post pictures of you drinking at a party, don’t drink! If you are doing something and wouldn’t want others to know about, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it...
Kelsey-
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that most people are giving up their privacy because everyone else is. I think friends have a HUGE influence on the way that each of us acts. When our friends do things we just think that it makes it more okay for us to do it as well. I think our society does a lot of things in a bandwagon type of way.
Nicole-
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with you when you say that Facebook is not going away any time soon! It has gotten to the point where now not just the public uses it! Huge cell phone companies are even putting Facebook buttons of phones! Basically EVERY company uses it to advertise. On most commercials that I watch at the end it says "To learn more check out our website and check us out on Facebook." haha It is just crazy to think about!
P.S. the picture this week really creeps me out!!
ReplyDeleteThe internet is a very revealing and risky tool that the public use every minute and everyday. And people don't realize how dangerous such a convenient tool can be. A prime example that I notice everyone uses is the social network "Facebook". When it first was available to the world, everything was private. You could easily have a conversation between you and another person without having to worry about anyone else poking their nose into your business. But now, Facebook has created so many new applications where nothing is ever private.
ReplyDeleteWith this lack of privacy, people seem to figure that if the company of Facebook is allowing a lack of discretion, then it should still be safe to open up to the whole world. But they are only missing the point that it is extremely dangerous and risky depending on what you plan to share. Pictures, status', comments, etc. are being freely shared no matter what it consists of. It's more than common now to see minor's sharing their pictures of a party with a bottle of booze in one hand and eyes half open. How stupid can you be? Oh but wait, its okay because Facebook allows it.
Facebook has become such a popular source of communication that nobody feels the need to speak to certain people about such personal subjects. Why would you when you can do it from a screen on your desk. Laziness is probably the cause for people sharing whatever they feel. The laziness blocks their common sense on what is right and what is wrong.
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteFacebook never going away is a debatable subject, it could get so bad, and so controversial that a majority of high authority figures can easily ban it unless they make certain changes.