Social Media has made a wonderful positive change to international society; however, with a change that is so drastic, there are a plethora of legal issues that have arisen that were never previously present before. Given the publicity of the Internet, Social Media has become a force that both helps and hinders its users. One of the primary concerns that pertains to Social Media is the issue of privacy. What is fascinating about the aspect of privacy when we are referring to Social Media is considering the legal implications that result from that lack of privacy. This paper will explore how Social Media has caused an extreme lack of privacy in the world and what both Social Media companies and employers have done to try to mitigate this issue.
Another way that Social Media can be quite invasive to your privacy is if you are allowing your Social Media accounts to show what your tastes and preferences are pertaining to advertising, (Scherker, A.). What this means is that once you look at a purse on google, you are going to see that same purse on Facebook these days. There have been several legal issues pertaining to whether this sort of advertising is allowed because it greatly infringes on your privacy. In fact, Facebook is one of the companies that had to revise their privacy policy many times due to this sort of advertising, (Claypoole, T.).
An example of how Facebook’s consent agreement works is that the user agrees to their data terms. What these data terms allow is for Facebook to submit your terms to various marketing outlets that then use Google Analytics to see what you are interested in. For example, when I was looking at jackets the other day, I saw the same jacket on four different websites that I was visiting. I was unsure whether to be elated that they knew exactly what I was looking for or horrified as to how they know every single little detail about what I was searching for. It is this very unease that I felt that has caused a great deal of legal issues pertaining to what is the line pertaining to using Internet clicks to generate personalized ads to consumers based on what they were searching for, (Epic.org).
The other aspect of Social Media that is crippling to privacy is the location feature. This feature can haunt you in two different ways. The first way that the location feature can haunt you is when you decide to post where you are located. That location post can be seen by everyone that you know and do not know. In fact, there have been some unfortunate issues pertaining to stalkers going to the café where the pretty girl posted a photo of herself, etc., (Claypoole, T.). Another way that the location feature can be invasive to your privacy is that you can still have the location of where you are if the location settings are turned on on your phone and you have not said where you are on Facebook. In order to avoid this, you have to be very careful so that you are not allowing someone to see where you are who you do not want to know where you are.
Returning to Facebook and adding Instagram, there is no iron clad way to ensure that your photos will not end up on Google Images regardless of whether you posted them on your “private” profiles. If you conduct a search on your first and last name, then you will see which of your photos are accessible to the public. You have to be particularly careful with this if you are a blogger and want to claim the copyright to your photos. This has also become an enormous legal issue pertaining to Social Media.
Another aspect of privacy when discussing Social Media is who has the copyright to your photos? The unfortunate answer is that they social media site does have some rights to your photos if you posted them on your site voluntarily, (Claypoole, T.). This is an enormous invasion to your privacy because it will become more difficult for you to claim copyright later on if your photo has been presented on so many Social Media sites because it will be considered to be in the public domain and you will have less protections, (Claypoole, T.). Social Media additionally presents a problem pertaining to whether you can truly take down photographs that you no longer want visible. Even though de-tagging is always effective, where does the photograph actually go? This has also presented a number of legal issues pertaining to ownership and privacy rights, (Claypoole, T.).
One of the most pivotal issues with Social Media is the fact that it is on the Internet and does not necessarily have country of domicile. In the legal field, this has been one of the main challenges in enforcing privacy rights because it begs the question of whose privacy rights policies that we are adhering to? (Scherker, A.). For example, a consumer in China has fewer rights when were are discussing terms of privacy than an American in many cases. In disputes that have transpired, it has fallen both ways with judges stating that the rules applied are the Social Media’s country of domicile and others have ruled that it is the user’s country of domicile. Given the numerous amount of possibilities, it is difficult to track where each and every user of Social Media is coming from. Thus, this has become a major issue of legal professional and scholarly debate.
Jurisdiction aside, Social Media has also had an impact on privacy when pertaining to how children are raised. When I was growing up, all of these Social Media outlets were just starting when I was in secondary school; thus, when I was in primary school, these outlets were not even an option. However, my siblings who are ten years younger had many issues pertaining to privacy with my parents. The issues that were facing my siblings in this situation were the concept of battling the aspect of privacy that exposes the youth to too much too soon. Social Media opens up lack of privacy to adults, but also exposes children to new areas of subjects that they would not be exposed to otherwise. These subjects are at times beneficial; however, there have been many cases where the children were exposed to too much too soon as a result of Social Media. Legally speaking, this has caused an enormous liability for these Social Media companies that have been pushed by governments to make some sort of limitations for those who are younger to stay protected for as long as possible, (Epic.org).
All in all, Social Media has entirely changed the world that we are a part of. Social Media has been instrumental to globalization, which has produced many viable benefits to society. What has made Social Media take off both in business and personal contexts is its ability to connect users in many different parts of the world. Additionally, it has provided a new way for businesses to reach willing consumers all over the globe. In politics, it was one of the engineered forces that helped Obama reach the younger generation when he was running for President of the United States. Aside from politics and business, Social Media has allowed friends and family who live a world apart to stay in touch. These contributions to society are surely worthwhile; however, many debate as to whether Social Media is worth the lack of privacy?
In answering this question, you will witness drastically different perspectives from those in younger and older generations. These perspectives have greatly shaped the debate that we continue to have regarding Social Media. Many times, I compare Social Media to Uber in the sense that even though so many people do not like what it does, the mass of the general public still wants it, and thus, it will survive despite legal statute issues. Uber is the same in that there are taxi unions that want Uber gone; however, Uber users want Uber because it is superior to the quality and level of service that taxis offer; thus, Uber will stay. Social Media will continue to grow and evolve over the generations and it will be fascinating to see where it all is in the next twenty years. That being said, it is highly likely that we will see even more positive growth for social media and effective ways to curtail the desire for privacy when we are living in a world that is globalizing lack of privacy.
References
Claypoole, T. Privacy and Social Media. American Bar Association. Retrieved from: http://www.americanbar.org/publications/blt/2014/01/03a_claypoole.html/.
Scherker, A. Didn’t Read Facebook’s Fine Print? Here’s Exactly What It Says. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/21/facebook-terms-condition_n_5551965.html/.
Social Networking Privacy. Epic.org: Electronic Privacy Information Center. Retrieved from: https://epic.org/privacy/socialnet/.
