Essay:Internet Privacy

Why is privacy such a contentious issue for internet users?

Communicating is an essential part of life, we communicate by speaking face to face, by writing letters by talking on the phone by texting each other. Though a form of communication that has really developed and changed over the past decade is the Internet. We use Internet for a number of reasons, though arguably the most popular thing it is used for is communicating. We email people, we use Skype, Messenger and social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace to communicate. However, communicating via Internet does put our privacy at risk. This essay will investigate and answer the question of why privacy is such a contentious issue for Internet users?

Facebook one of the internet’s most popular and largest social networking sites was launched by Mark Zuckerburg an American university student back in 2004. Zuckerburg created Facebook originally just as a social connectivity network website for students at Harvard University, though Zuckerburg’s website went on and developed into a social networking site that has connected millions of people around the world via the web. Zuckerburg’s invention genius as it maybe has put many people’s privacy at risk. Lipford suggest that millions of people who sign up to social websites like Facebook or Myspace don’t realise that they are putting their privacy and identity at risk. (Lipford:2008)

One hot topic that is constantly talked about in the media in relation to privacy on social networking sites, is employer’s or companies checking their employee’s social networking profiles. Many people have lost their jobs or potential employment opportunities because of what has been posted on their Facebook profile. According to the Pheonomen Institute, a think tank on privacy, stated in research that they conducted that upto 35% of employer’s will check the profiles of potential employees that they are going to hire or even current employees (Du:2007).In 2008 16 year old office worker Kimberly Swann from the U.K was fired from her job at Ivell Marketing and Logistics because of several facebook status updates she had posted about her work place. Her boss Stephen Ivell had found her comments and deemed them to be offensive towards himself his company and subsequently fired her. Swann had argued that the comments weren’t a personal attack on him or his company and that her privacy had actually been breached. (Levy:2009) Certainly a case such as this definitely raises the issue of privacy on social networking websites. Recently the German Government have been looking at introducing laws that will block employers, companies ands investigating their employee’s or potential employee’s by searching their social network pages. (Stott:2010)

The use of social networking sites has even lead to worse things than people losing their jobs. People have taken their own lives or been murdered due to privacy problems on social networking websites like Facebook. Cyberbullying is an issue that has plagued the social networking community. In January 2010 14 year old U.S teenager Phoebe Prince committed suicide due to constant bullying and harrasment over Facebook. This case which was reported heavily in the news over in the U.S brought up the question of privacy, and how administrators of these networking sites can monitor and block bullying behaviour which can occur on people’s personal pages, or on groups pages that have been created to attack an individual. (James:2010)

Even though a lot of the privacy issues with social networking sites that are reported on predominately occur in the United States, many of these issues with internet privacy have also occurred in Australia. 18 year old Sydney teenager Nona Belsesmoff was murdered in May 2010 after she had been lured by her killer over Facebook. 20 year old Christopher Dannevig created a fake account and made contact with Belsesmoff. Dannevig posed as a worker for an animal welfare organisation and said he was able to get a job for Belsesmoff who had a passion for animals. Dannevig arranged a meeting with Belsesmoff at location via facebook and murdered her. After this terrible incident occurred ,the NSW Government, and police department urged teenagers who had a Facebook accounts to delete their profile pictures or get rid of their account all together. (Breen:2010) NSW Premier Kristina Keneally said “People may not be who they purport to be on social networking sites and that can be the case, It is a reminder to us all no matter what our age that we should be careful of the people that we meet online”. (Keneally:2010)

One other major issue that is linked with privacy worries on social networking websites is stalking. There have been many reported cases of stalking over the Internet. Recently this month there was a reported case in Australia where a man had been harassing and stalking his ex-girlfirend via facebook. The man had been warned several times by the police to stop, though he continued harassing her,Eventually the police went in search of the individual to serve him an AVO to stop harassing his ex. They weren’t able to get in contact with him so they issued the AVO to him via Facebook. The man acknowledged and complied with it AFP’s demands. (Roberts:2010) A case like this definitely shows that law enforcement agencies such as the Australia Federal Police are starting to use social networking sites as a tool for monitoring and communicating.
Social Networking is a tool that has been proven to be a major driving force with linking millions of people and organisations around the world together. Though as this essay has investigated there have been many associated risks with this major social phenomenon ,especially the issue of privacy. Advancements with internet secturity and other forms of technology may one day be able to fully protect users without having to worry about their privacy.

References
Lipford H, Besmer A. 2008. Understanding Privacy Settings in Facebook with an Audience View. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.usenix.org/events/upsec08/tech/full_papers/lipford/lipford_html/. [Accessed 15 October 10]

Du W. 2007. Job candidates getting tripped up by Facebook . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20202935/. [Accessed 20 October 10].

Levy A. 2009. Teenage office worker sacked for moaning on Facebook about her 'totally boring' job Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1155971/Teenage-office-worker-sacked-moaning-Facebook-totally-boring-job.html#ixzz13x0Qm0u0. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1155971/Teenage-office-worker-sacked-moaning-Facebook-totally-boring-job.html. [Accessed 19 October 10].

James S. 2010. Immigrant Teen Taunted by Cyberbullies Hangs Herself. [ONLINE] Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cyber-bullying-factor-suicide-massachusetts-teen-irish-immigrant/story?id=9660938. [Accessed 19 October 10].

Stott P. 2010. Protecting Job Seekers from Themselves: Germany Considering Facebook Hiring Ban . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/blogs/entry-detail/index?blog_id=1465&entry_id=11761. [Accessed 20 October 10].

Breen G. 2010. Teen's murder sparks Facebook privacy plea. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/17/2901537.htm. [Accessed 20 October 10].

Keneally K. 2010. Keneally urges online caution after Facebook murder. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/16/2900709.htm. [Accessed 20 October 10].

Roberts G. 2010. Stalker faces facts online. [ONLINE] Available at: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/stalker-faces-facts-online-20101020-16sua.html. [Accessed 21 October 10].