One of the biggest issues online today is user-privacy. Time and time again, we hear about situations where someone's personal information or pictures are shared online without their consent (one of the biggest scandals of the past five years, crudely referred to as "The Fappening") or even someone who had the great idea to post their questionable and sometimes illicit activities online, only to be fired from their job or caught by the police.
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| #yikes |
Author Lori Andrews argues that we need a Social Network Constitution to protect our rights online saying, "It should say that social networks are private spaces and that employers, schools and other institutions are prohibited from accessing social network pages or taking adverse actions against a person based on anything they post on a social network. A similar rule is being considered in Germany, which would forbid employers from using information from social networks in the processes of hiring or judging employees."
While I think we deserve some sort of protection from what occurs online, because there's not much stopping your archenemy from creating an unflattering online presence for you, I do think that some good things can be learned from scanning someone's social media. For example, if you have a crush on someone, you may or may not choose to do a little "investigating" on your own to figure out what they like and dislike. During this time, you might stumble upon a page they're associated with that might not be the best (a hate group, perhaps?) which will probably influence you to move on, probably for the better.
However, the argument could also be made that you have changed as a person since you originally created your online presence. For example, I posted a lot of dumb stuff when I first had social media as a Freshman in high school in 2009. I definitely look back on some of that stuff and cringe. Because of this, I've gone back and tried to blast the worst-of-the-worst into oblivion but I'm sure there's something out there somewhere, because it's the internet and nothing ever really goes away. Since that's the case, I'd definitely not want someone to judge me on whether or not to give me a job, based on something stupid I wrote back in the day.
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| Why did I feel the need to post this?? |
