CCCToad on 14/1/2010 at 01:26
Or so says (
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/6966628/Facebooks-Mark-Zuckerberg-says-privacy-is-no-longer-a-social-norm.html) Facebook's Founder.
OK, so the title is a bit of hyperbole. That said, I find his basic assertion questionable at best. For many people, its not that they have no expectation of privacy, but that they don't bother to think about what they're posting. Others, like myself, don't post stuff on facebook because I don't want privacy. If I post it on facebook, its a thought, link, or photo that I WANT my friends to see. If I want something to be private (for example, the details of a spat with the girlfriend) I don't post it.
He is making an illogical connection: Simply because people aren't taking advantage of their right to privacy doesn't mean that the idea should be discarded. I see it as as being similar to the right to silence you have when you are arrested: Just because you don't use it doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.
Ringwraith on 14/1/2010 at 01:42
I exercise my right to privacy by not being registered on his website. HAHAHA.
Kolya on 14/1/2010 at 02:33
Zuckerberg apparently thinks privacy is of declining importance to people, and who could blame him. But I think that's far from the truth. Privacy has been redefined, it went online.
Let's have a look at the standard example: A student posts pictures of his drinking binge on facebook, then in his job interview the interviewer points at these and asks if he's got a drinking problem.
It used to be that everyone blamed the student for being so stupid.
But since you can find private pictures of almost anyone on the net these days, the definition of privacy has changed. Now that student might simply say: "That was a private picture." (ie: It's none of your business.) And many, especially younger people would agree with him.
So there's a new kind of privacy now: public privacy. And the decency of people who use the net to mine that public private data has become much more questioned than it used to be. Under public privacy the student can expect the interviewer not to make use of pictures that were obviously never meant for him.
I think the basic need for privacy is still there, but there's also the need to communicate and socialise via the web. So at the same as people publicise more and more private data, there's a new emphasis on responsible and decent handling of that data, that reflects back into into personal relationships in the real world.
Ringwraith on 14/1/2010 at 03:35
Quote Posted by Kolya
public privacyInsanity. Are younger people really suffering a mass delusion over this as you suggest?
If the interviewer wants to mine for everything she can find, it's her right and her choice to do so. Maybe that student might use a similar lack of discretion and post private customer data online. If the student doesn't like the idea of someone Googling his name, he should learn how to use the technology and hide that which may compromise his career. Responsible handling of data starts with he or she who posts it online in the first place.
CCCToad on 14/1/2010 at 03:40
RingWraith is making a lot of sense. Still, calling it a mass delusion is doing it a favor because the term implies ignorance. Lets call it what it is: a denial of responsibility.
Let me put it this way. If you get wasted and decide to run laps around your town's tourist district while wearin nothin but a grin, you have no expectation of privacy. It isn't the fault of the local evening news for putting up a picture of your mugshot, its YOUR fault for acting stupid in public. And like it or not, if I can view without special access(such as behind a password-protected phot gallery),and its your name anything you post of yourself is public conduct.
Master Villain on 14/1/2010 at 03:43
"I put that online publicly for anyone to see but NOT YOU because I really want this job okay, so just forget you saw that picture of me puking over someone's carpet, and the one of me trying to have sex with a cat, alright? It is my public privacy and therefore you have to forget it."
Yes, I can see interviewers going for that.
june gloom on 14/1/2010 at 04:18
How about "I did that years ago when I was first starting college, young, dumb and celebrating my freedom. Obviously I don't have a drinking problem or I would not be sitting in front of you today."
Enchantermon on 14/1/2010 at 04:22
Quote Posted by Kolya
So there's a new kind of privacy now:
public privacy.
I disagree.
Here in the States, and presumably in many other countries as well, there is available to all a database of people in your town, city, and surrounding cities/counties. You can look up their name, phone number, and street address easily. It's called a phone book. If you don't want your information listed, you can specifically request that it be removed.
The internet is no different. Facebook is a database of people. You can look up anyone you like. But instead of listing just names and phone numbers, we have names with pictures, hobbies, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, etc. Sometimes even phone numbers. If you don't want your information on there, you shouldn't put it there. Just like you can have it removed from the phone book, you can take it off of Facebook.
Would you think it an invasion of privacy for an interviewer to look up your name in the phone book before or after an interview? How is going to Facebook any different? It's simply another type of database with information about people.
I wouldn't blame an employer who didn't hire someone because of their pictures on Facebook. Businesses don't want to lose money, and if they hire someone who has a habit of binging on the weekends, there's a possibility that they'll overdo it and miss work one day. Furthermore, what a person does with their free time could also be a reflection on their character and expose character traits that will not translate well in the workplace. This is not always the case, but if the possibility is there, a business will be very reluctant to take a risk on a person who could fail them in the long run.
Master Villain on 14/1/2010 at 05:06
Quote Posted by dethtoll
How about "I did that years ago when I was first starting college, young, dumb and celebrating my freedom. Obviously I don't have a drinking problem or I would not be sitting in front of you today."
It still shows that the person in question doens't have a sense of discretion. It also means any client or customer can see that the company employs someone that stupid.
It is almost always about the fact they posted something private online and therefore cannot ever be trusted to keep quiet about work matters.
june gloom on 14/1/2010 at 05:26
You're not taking into account the fact that other people post those pictures too. Nobody wants to have to watch their behaviour in a private party because some dickbag they probably don't even know throwing up a bunch of pictures on Facebook.
