Nowadays, privacy and confidentiality are the main issues of new media, particularly online media. New media tools especially online sites humans rely on are quite convenient and irreplaceable currently. Numerous personal information is presenting online, and it is a common first step for most people to expand their online networking. Despite many people set their private information or posts to a specific group of people that might be their families, friends, and colleagues, their privacy can be leaked either intentionally or unintentionally. Because of the Internet's timeliness, information on it can be captured less than one second by some people even if the post owner deletes, recalls or withdraws the message within a few seconds. Thus, the exposed privacy might be retained and disseminated permanently online. Online networking site like Facebook, its privacy setting is confusing since although people set their privacy only to intimate friends their posts could still be seen by others which are their friends's friends. Confidentiality is another big issue existing among new media. Many hackers might aim at unveiling certain people's privacy online because stealing online information is a much easier way than stealing in person, and the anonymous and fakable natures of new media users. In addition, the virtual online identity could be easily falsified, concealed, or manipulated by just coding algorithm.
Therefore, it's incumbent on both new media and their users to screen the online environment and go online in a civilized manner.
I agree with what you said about people putting their accounts on private but there is always some other way their information could get leaked to others. A good example of this is when Mark Zuckerberg’s sister’s private family photo ended up on a Twitter page. She posted with the intention of it being private, but her sisters’ friends were able to see it because she was tagged in it. There are always ‘back-door’ entrances to ways people could retain private information through new media such as this. People need to be more aware of the privacy and confidentiality risks associated with the new tech.
ReplyDeleteHi Yang,
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you've said and I like how you mentioned platforms that allow online networking such as Linkedin. I forget that most of that information that is provided is available for the public and that is where privacy becomes complicated. There is no clear resolution and handling content in a civilized manner is probably the best suggestion but unfortunately there are a lot of people with bad intentions.