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Over the course of the last year, I have done a lot of research; papers and projects on the topic of privacy on the Internet. Social media and online communication have also been major points of interest for me.
Luckily, with technology and electronics rapidly advancing, people of the communication profession (like myself) are spending a lot of time trying to analyze these developments and determine the real implications for our communication process.
For that reason, I’ve been given a lot of opportunities to deepen my understanding of this topic. However, as always with communication, it seems we always have way more questions than answers and thus is the case with Internet privacy.
How much information should we be putting on the Internet? Who should have access to our information and how can they use it? Should our employers be allowed to monitor our social media profiles?
Should social media sites be able to save our info and give it to third parties? Should the government be able to access our information? How can we ensure our security online?
These, among countless others, are the issues facing everyone that chooses to log on to the World Wide Web.
I can’t even begin to answer most of these questions or even provide a general rule of thumb, but I can share some of the thoughts and opinions which are supported by what I have learned thus far during my education and research as a communication student and from my own personal experience.
Government monitoring of the Internet is quite a sensitive subject. Regardless of their motivation, to many people, it feels like an invasion of privacy. In some cases, the government will get this information from wildly popular social media sites, like Facebook.
It’s strange to think that a seemingly harmless status you post could fall into the hands of government officials or law enforcement and get you in trouble, but it can.
The key element here is context. The government isn’t viewing your status or Google search from your point of view. If they see something specious, they have to investigate.
It seems that monitoring web activity could prevent a lot of crimes. Most crimes are premeditated and there’s a good chance clues could be found in the criminal’s Internet history, status updates and locations.
There are clear benefits to tracking Internet activity, but it’s very difficult to get the public on board. Privacy and rights mean a lot to us here in the U.S. and we’re not exactly eager to give up any of our freedoms.
Recently, employers have been turning to social media more frequently during the hiring process and even to check up on their employee’s profiles well into their years with a company.
Part of a company’s goal is to maintain the image it has designed and hiring employees that proliferate that image is a very important element of that goal.
If you associate yourself with your place of work on social media, you’re promoting that company whether you think about it that way or not.
However, whether or not a company should be allowed to use your social media account against you when it clearly does not affect your job performance is still quite controversial. For this question, I think the answer is clear. A specific and strict social media policy is a must in the modern workplace.
A good social media policy will dictate who can speak for the company on social media, what employees can and cannot say regarding the workplace and how employees should generally conduct themselves online.
If the company sets clear rules, the employees are aware of them and agree, then everybody wins.
There’s always going to be a part of me that views the Internet as a “use at your own risk” type of media. I feel that it’s at the very least partly the user’s responsibility to ensure that they understand what they’re getting themselves into.
To be frank, it is called the “world wide web”. Just based on the name, you can conclude that whatever you post and share has the potential to be seen by more people than you intend.
So, I feel that we have a certain level of personal responsibility to protect ourselves. Regardless of whether the government, your employer, or your mom chooses to monitor your Internet activity, you can keep yourself secure and your information private by simply not putting it out there.
Completely abstaining from participation in the Internet is unrealistic and unreasonable, it has way too many benefits and has become nearly a necessary tool nowadays.
But, being painstakingly careful and critical about the information you share on the Internet, and even what you search for, may be the answer to many of these Internet conundrums.
Bridget Goedke
Senior Viewpoints Editor
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