Web 2.0 and the death of privacy

Has Privacy become an issue of the past? These days you are more prone to hear news about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Police officers and even Government Ministers and Officials being caught on tape. Not only on tape, but today they are all being posted over the Internet. A few cases might illustrate this issue of privacy and how it may lead to other chain of actions that could harm you.

The Dark Side

One was the case of a British man, Edward Richardson, who murdered his wife. His wife changed her Facebook profile status to "single" a few days after they had an argument and moved out. He became so enraged from seeing the change in profile status and subjected her to a brutal attack with a knife leaving her dead in the bedroom. It was also reported that Edward was sentenced to 18 years of jail for the murder of his wife.

The other case is of a Malaysian Health Minster of Malaysia, Dr. Chua Soi Lek, who was caught with his political pants down, where he was "featured" having sex with a young Chinese woman. He was caught by hidden cameras in a 'sex romp', which was widely circulated and became an instant hit in Malaysia. This eventually caused his downfall on his political career and was forced to resign.

The One with The Force

As with online privacy, sometimes it can also work for you. It can provide you with some kind of publicity, create a fellowship and make people like you for what you do.

The case of Alexey Wayner, is one clear example. He posted a video resume in 2006 of 'Impossible is Nothing', which became an 'internet hit'. Within days calls started to flood in and his privacy was invaded. Many spoof's started to duplicate his video and has since spread widely over the net.

Could this be turned around? Would you want to use it for building an online business? It is possible, depending on how you were to look at it. Whether the glass half empty or half full.

If you were to look at it in the marketing sense, it could bring about a great deal of traffic to your site, since the video is viral. It could provide you with some kind of 'credibility' if you are building a business. But if you are not then it could cause damage to your reputation and the experience can be a painful one. The online community is a shared one, and there are people out there who would like to know what you do and don't. But the test a subjective one.

Cameras have played a major role in our lives, both in media, security and also for personal use. But, these days camera's can invade our privacy and thanks to many social media sites and video sites such as YouTube and many other social media sites have allowed images, videos and data to spread like wild fire. It is far easier to invade your privacy and cause damage to your reputation.

Technology has shows how easy it can be and how a persons privacy can be invaded and affect a persons life after the videos, images and data are posted online. Let it be for good or evil. Your privacy is literally blown! It is like 'Big Brother', watching over you or image your life being featured in "The Chronicles of The Truman Show", where everyone is watching you.

The internet is based on the first amendment, which promotes freedom of speech and everyone is given the opportunity to post information voluntarily, but sometimes involuntarily especially when someone obtains your data, video or images without your consent. So what kind of privacy is this? Who is to be blamed? Should you be humiliated or exhilarated?

We all have to deal with this increase of information that is being posted on the net, but the question seem to be how much information is enough? Where do you draw the thin fine line to post such information and data online? Who determines this? Should we shut down the internet and block or ban sites that invade your privacy?

Of course not! You do not ban any sites or even try to shut down the internet. The role and responsibility is to be shared online both by web service providers and the end user. We have to collectively raise the awareness of individuals to protect the privacy of individuals online and at the same time making sure that you do your part as the end user.

Some related links:

Data Privacy Day
Raising Data Privacy Awareness
The Privacy Dilemma

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Becoming a Public Figure

Come to think of it for a minute, in this day and age of social media and technology, everyone is a 'public figure'. What I mean by this is that, anyone and everyone has the opportunity to be a public figure. With the facility and tools that we have today, our profiles are all being posted on the world wide web. Such postings do indeed make each and everyone individual a 'public figure'. This arrangement is not a direct one for those who wish to be on the limelight, but rather takes a softer approach.

I would like to reaffirm the statement above with the decision of a Judge from Florida, where by being mentioned on the net can indeed make you a public figure. Public figures are usually categorised as politicians or celebrities, but so as long as there is a substantial presence, debate and contribution on your part, you too can be categorised as a 'public figure'. Please note that there can be serious legal implications for publishing such material on the internet, where the information or material might be untrue or one that tends to tarnish the reputation of an individual, which might lead to a claim of defamation.

Let's take a look at some of the Negative aspects of these developments.
Please note that when using the world wide web, you are crossing jurisdictions and breaking geographical barriers when communication or making contact with an individual or business.

First, some of these developments in the world of social media and networking are encouraging the 'death' of privacy laws. You might want to consider these questions:

1. What level of privacy should you anticipate from another individual online?;
2. What do others believe of your expectations?; and in addition to that
3. What would you consider as a reasonable expectation?

Secondly, more and more students and individuals are posting pictures of them comsuming alcohol, and some making references to drugs and sex, but what they don't realise is that these publications are permanent and that the world is 'watching' them. Some authorities have begun using these tools to help them in their investigation and have so far proved successful.

Thirdly, issues of information security, that involves spams and indetity theft occur all the time.

Fourth, there are sexual predators online who tend to prey on the 'weak', but where does this end?

You should know by now that Cyber Space is no Private Space! Anything and everything that you post online is visible to the whole world at large and such information might be abused and you might not even have the littlest idea on this.

Take for example, the trend of having online 'friends' on your facebook, myspace or friendster account might be a great thing, with the idea that the more 'friends' you have the merrier it is. Think again! A British Judge in the UK has ruled that your "facebook friends" cannot be defined as "friendship in the traditional sense". Such friends might turn out to be stalkers and they might even start harassing you, just because they seem to 'think' that you are a 'friend' of theirs. Imagine having 1 million friend, do you think you will know all of them? Very unlikely. But then again, these are just some of the donwfalls of the developments of social media and networking. You should be responsible of your own actions and when dealing with people online.

However, this is not always the case. Having 'friends' can be a good thing as well if you were to look at it from the business point of view. Most online marketers, will applaud to this idea of having a huge fan base and being able to connect to a huge amount of people online. It provides them with a headstart and a platform for their business and it also enables them to provide information, suggestions and advice to people online and it makes them an authority or expert in their respected field.

The idea of having 'friend' in the business world is to leverage their existing connections. It helps someone in the business world to expand their connection and establish their presense online with like minded people, who can invite them to their events through social participation. This too makes an individual a 'public figure' if you are active with your networks.

Infact, I kind of like AirAsia's tagline: 'Now Everyone Can Fly', but I would like to rephrase it to: 'Now Everyone is a Public Figure', with the rise of Social Media and Networking, and this is evident today. Stating that, there might be many arguments, where some may agree with this statement, but, literally: You are a 'public figure'. Here are the question that you might want to ask if you are in the business platform:

1. Are you doing the right things and acting with integrity to be one?
2. Are you acting like a winner and a person with high ambitions and vision?
3. Are you serving and providing for your community?
4. Are you open minded and willing to take responsibility for your actions?

You must understand and realise that for you to be respectable and be looked upon a 'public figure' you must be someone who speaks with authority and substance. You can only keep their attention by writing and speaking with authority.

The world is a small place after all and you can build new relationships really quick and boost opportunities by building new bridges between people from all over the world. I believe that there are always pros and cons in everything, but where do you look for your solution? As an entrepreneur, I always look for opportunities and the bright side of things, even though sometimes it might not seem to be so, but it is always best to keep an open mind and be aware of the things that you do and the law of cause and effect for each and every action of yours.

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