technoculture203-09

In my essay, I argued that although social network site, such as facebook and myspace allow the performance and exploration of self-identity, there is also a great dilemma regarding social privacy in the way that we may not wish certain people to see certain contents. This indistinguishable cut between our personal and private life relates to issues of privacy and new media. This week we are shown a comedic parody video of how Google treats people who choose to Opt-out like prisoners, it is funny but in a sense the underlining context of online security are also quite serious. Although Opting out is not the most rewarding way to deal with the problems of online privacy, and the cyber-world has not yet come claim our privacy like Big Brother, but there are real concerns and consequences regarding online privacy. As for now, as Michael Zimmer suggests in “The Externalities of Search 2.0”, the best way to go forward is accept the inevitable and logical trade-offs of online privacy, not opting out, but to participate in social network sites while work hard to keep privacy, which would require co-operations and governments to consider the issues of privacy more serious.