Privacy and Surveillance in the 21st Century
Sunday, October 4, 2009 by jotaylor
The recent lecture on Privacy in the Digital age got me thinking about the society we live in. We are living in a more commercial and a less privatized society, which is why the concept of surveillance is so interesting. In everyday life we are able to be tracked and surveyed pretty much everywhere we go, for example CCTV visually tracks images of society.
Surveillance can also be assumed through Facebook, whose privacy status is controlled by users. I have seen people who I know used for advertising, this makes me question if I have the right settings on my account. Facebook's public settings are becoming an issue as employers can survey their possible employees’ profile.
Recently TV show Dr Phil produced an interesting example of the total violation of privacy, through the issue of ‘Sexting’. This concept involves the sending of naked or sexual pictures, messaged via mobile phones. Dr Phil counselled a victim of Sexting, who took an image of herself, sent it to a boy that she liked, which he then sent to his friends. This example proves that mobile phones are a main form of technological convergence as they include a camera, and are becoming more than primarily a form of communication. In the 21st century we are living life in the public eye, we are continually surveyed.
Surveillance can also be assumed through Facebook, whose privacy status is controlled by users. I have seen people who I know used for advertising, this makes me question if I have the right settings on my account. Facebook's public settings are becoming an issue as employers can survey their possible employees’ profile.
Recently TV show Dr Phil produced an interesting example of the total violation of privacy, through the issue of ‘Sexting’. This concept involves the sending of naked or sexual pictures, messaged via mobile phones. Dr Phil counselled a victim of Sexting, who took an image of herself, sent it to a boy that she liked, which he then sent to his friends. This example proves that mobile phones are a main form of technological convergence as they include a camera, and are becoming more than primarily a form of communication. In the 21st century we are living life in the public eye, we are continually surveyed.