Is Privacy Still Ours?

As the rising rates on internet crimes like identity thefts, scams, spamming and stalking, the online community is worried about the stand on internet privacy. Are we still in control of our privacy?

Cecilia Kang (2010) wrote about the public awareness the display of their intimate information, which worries and enrages the users as it invades their privacy. Facebook implemented a high-privacy setting change which allowed their users to have a control over what information to display and not to display after user complaints in December 2009 (Kang 2010). Moreover, the Federal Trade Commission is hovering over online privacy concerns, and is being pressurized aggressively by private attorneys to address complains of user’s privacy invasions by Google Buzz and Facebook (Kang 2010).

Google Buzz

Facebook

We have to face the fact that the existence of blogging allows bloggers to share personal information with the online world. As a teenager, not only does sharing information allows us to meet more new people, but also being heard makes it more worthwhile. It has long been a normal phenomenon since blogging has been commercialized. While Kang (2010) mentioned that users are finding it hard to maintain their privacy, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook gave his opinion that users are becoming comfortable not just with sharing information, but more openly and willingly with other users. This normality has grown with time. Facebook has set the public setting as default as a reflection on the normality. (Kirtkpatrick 2010)

Kang, C 2009, Is Internet privacy dead? No, just more complicated: researchers, The Washington Post, viewed 13^th June 2010, .

Kirkpatrick, M 2010a, Facebook’s Zuckerberg says the age of privacy is over, ReadWriteWeb, viewed 13^th June 2010, .

Kirkpatrick, M 2010b, Why Facebook is wrong: Privacy is still important, ReadWriteWeb, viewed 13^th June 2010, .