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JeanLeeFirstPaper 3 - 02 May 2013 - Main.JeanLee
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SNS and Children's Privacy | | | Redefining SNS | |
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< | As seen with COPPA, legislation is not always the most effective way to promote desirable actions or omissions. For a more fundamental change, it seems that there is a need to stop confusing SNS with a private social community. Maybe this will be clearer if the "social networking service" was renamed or at least conceived by the general public as something closer to a "micro publishing service." Despite the privacy settings (that really do not work), users should be reminded that their posts are made available not only to "friends," but potentially to the general public, and that potential dissemination is much far reaching than may be expected. The government and other commercial businesses also monitor the posts and any and all of the contents may be used for or against the writer. It may be more conceivable that using a micro publishing service to publish your or your children's life would be quite close to subjecting yourself or your children to a life very close to that of Jim Carrey's in "The Trueman Show." | >
> | As seen with COPPA, legislation is not always the most effective way to promote desirable actions or omissions. For a more fundamental change, it seems that there is a need to stop confusing SNS with a private social community. Maybe this will be clearer if the "social networking service" was renamed or at least conceived by the general public as something closer to a "micro publishing service." Despite the privacy settings (that really do not work), users should be reminded that their posts are made available not only to "friends," but potentially to the general public, and that potential dissemination is much far reaching than may be expected. The government and other commercial businesses also monitor the posts and any and all of the contents may be used for or against the writer.
With a more accurate understanding or definition of what kind of services (that is, publishing services) are provided and are being used despite the name SNS, people may be able to start using these services in a more appropriate way - using a publishing service as a publishing service, and not as a personal diary.
Protecting Free Conscience
In a broader perspective, however, the ‘Exposed Generation’ is not solely the result of the use or abuse of SNSs, it is an inevitable evolution brought about as the net becomes more intertwined and inseparable with our everyday lives. For the next generation, the exposure and mass collection of personal information will not be optional or controllable - it would be an environment that one is born into.
Maintaining a free conscience may become more and more difficult in the new environment. Psychological ‘nudging’ has been happening in many was in modern society, but such manipulation will become increasingly tailored to the personal level making it harder to resist or even recognize.
It will be necessary for us and our future generations to protect our own free consciences, which is core to human value, by keeping a clear awareness of the collection and use of explicit and implicit data. We will need to find ways to use such collective data to benefit ourselves and not only the commercial businesses and the government. It will also be important to find ways to resist reinforcement or manipulation of our behavior when necessary. More than ever, continuing efforts will need to be made in order to secure our ability to make independent decisions about our actions and lives, free from any type of implicit or unconscious coercion. | | | | |
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< | With a more accurate understanding or definition of what kind of services (that is, publishing services) are provided and are being used despite the name SNS, people may be able to start using these services in a more appropriate way - using a publishing service as a publishing service, and not as a personal diary. They can stop using printing mills to publicly announce the developmental challenges of their poor child (under real name), and continue to use these services to publish meaningful contents that will reach their readers (who may or not be friends) and invoke interaction. Of course, anyone who publishes will need to bear any liabilities that the posts may entail. | | | | |
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< | The nature or function of the SNS has changed from a service to facilitate connections and communication with peers, to a spying/marketing tool, so much that the whole definition of the service should be redefined. Or then again, maybe the concept of an "SNS" was only a mask or misrepresentation to begin with. | | |
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| Revision 3 | r3 - 02 May 2013 - 01:09:51 - JeanLee |
| Revision 2 | r2 - 23 Apr 2013 - 19:26:51 - EbenMoglen |
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