The Internet has for a considerable significant period been the acid test of ‘freedom of speech.’ But at what cost to large numbers of unsuspecting citizens? Sometimes celebrities are the targets of Internet video disclosures that are quickly propagated all over the world through Internet services like YouTube, whose hyperlinks are easily promoted on social network profiles such as MySpace and Facebook. But almost as frequently, celebrities are made by the uploading of private videos of everyday individuals, which are then emailed and blogged and thus spread like wildfire to each end of the world. The notoriety which results from lots of these videos or pictures being spread so easily can be deeply upsetting to the individuals who are exploited by their being passed around. But who is to be held responsible? an individual can’t be held accountable simply for passing onward an email or posting a public link to their Facebook profile.
The Internet and social networking sites are simply a more modern medium by means of which the diffusion of information has been made easier. Unfortunately, or fortunately, making every citizen with access to a computer a certified journalist with the capacity to reach millions of audiences the world over. So it is not the social networks that are responsible for this betrayal of personal rights, but the community at large itself. Social tradition thrives on the passing around of gossip and information sharing. As long as you are not the victim, you have no problems passing on that embarrassing video of a poor kid cavorting around his home making believe to be a resistance fighter from Star Wars (The boy is currently under psychiatric care and has dropped out of school, on the off chance that you were wondering). Websites such as TMZ.com survive only thanks to human longing for salacious trash and celebrity gossip.
In the same way, we must understand the Internet’s limitlessness, and the lack of exercising power over its content. In today’s times, one must know that one’s actions could be broadcast within seconds. With digital cameras, mobiles with movie-making features and immediate availability of YouTube and Facebook, something you do could be disseminated to your friends and strangers equally well as it is happening. We need to redefine what is private and what is public, as it is no longer safe to take for granted that all we do will remain in our hands. Modern methods have a mind of its own, and the Internet is a typical example an invention that can easily slip away from its intended use and obtain many more functions as long as the multitudes encourage it.
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