Privacy Issues in Social Networking and Social Media

Privacy Issues in Social Networking and Social Media Sophie Muthen Privacy is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the context of social networking sites and social media. Discuss. Nowadays sharing personal information on social networking sites (SNS) has become a social norm, users feel comfortable about sharing their private life online but the issues of privacy online still remains. Martin Zuckerberg stated himself in 2010 that users of SNS have now become more open, sharing more and more personal information online and with a greater number of people. This may have become a social norm in our modern times but users should keep in mind that those information can be used in harmful ways such as for identity theft or stalking. Therefore a balance should be kept between online disclosure and privacy as tipping the scales may be harmful to the users. Users of SNS should take into consideration what kind of information they share online and to whom it should be divulged to. This is why users of social networking sites should develop technical skills to protect their privacy online. This essay will explore the different privacy issues people may face on SNS and ho w a balance between online disclosure and privacy should be maintained to successfully function in both the online and offline world. A clear understanding of social networking sites and privacy issues online is the key to this issue. In the recent years social networking sites (SNS) have attracted millions of people as on such sites people can communicate in various ways. As Beye et al. (n.d) SNS allow people to create a network that represent their social ties, easily share media content online, provides a communication channel and share the daily aspect of their life with friends. However there are potential threats that are posed to privacy of the users, as due to SNS personal information are exposed to a wider audience and often information about a user are posted by others without the his or her consent. Therefore social media complicates the boundaries of what personal information are rendered public. Users of SNS have become so comfortable with the sharing of personal information online that they are not aware of the dangers they face online due to privacy issues. Sharing our everyday life with friends and relatives with just a few clicks is indeed nice but people often forget that digital information is â€Å"persistent and can arbitrarily be copied, distributed, and repurposed† (Debatin, 2011, p. 57). When creating a profile on SNS you are to provide information such as your age, name and the country where you live. These information can easily be accessed either by the public or hackers and this is what leads to identity thefts. As all your personal information are available on the site anyone can use this information to steal the identity of users. Another problem that arises from privacy issues is stalking. Zheleva and Geetor (2009) explains that while the user may choose to make his profile private the friendship links and group affiliation are often visible to the p ublic. This is how the information leaks occurs, people not in your group of friends can see the posts in which you are tagged in which is how they may be able to access your personal information even though your profile remains private. These information link may allow stalkers to follow your activities online. This may also happen when you befriend people online without knowing their identity. Nowadays it has become a trend to share your everyday activity online, for example, you could post that you are at Bagatelle mall right now. This may allow stalkers to know your every move and schedule daily. The problem of stalkers can also be linked to sexual predators, who looks for younger girls on SNS and add them as friends, they then view the personal information of those girls and stalk them online. Another privacy that users can face is that the information they shared remains online even after four to five years when they have forgotten about it. Companies or the law for investigat ions of social background. Users should be aware of those various privacy issues and share personal information with caution on SNS. While discretion should be exercised when sharing personal information online, there are various benefits to online disclosure. In real life when forming social bonds you selectively reveal personal information, to feel closer to the person and get to know each other. Therefore when doing so on social networking sites (SNS) people also create social bonds with each other. They get to know each other and form friendships but in an online environment. So, SNS has given people a network where they can socialize and form social bonds with people without being limited by distance or time. For example, a man from Mauritius could be able to communicate with a woman from France if he wishes to. SNS have therefore removed this barrier of distance in socialization, allowing people from all other the world to communicate with each other. â€Å"Benniger (1987) describes how mass media has gradually replaced interpersonal communication as a socializing force† (Barnes, 2006). SNS have also increased the number of people with who we can socialize with as due to those websites users are able to form social bonds with multiple people at the same time. â€Å"SNSs have amplified the threshold to the number of social bonds any one human can have† (Papacharissi Gibson, 2011, p. 82). When using SNS you share personal information about yourself, which in turn allows you to connect with people with similar interests or mind set. This allow people to feel less isolated as they are able to communicate with people which are similar to them and they are even able â€Å"mobilize to address the issues that matter to them† (Westlake, 2008, p. 37). The ability to connect with people through social networking sites has made us arguably more social. A balance between online disclosure and privacy is essential for SNS to have a beneficial effect on people’s life. As Debatin (2011) explains, people don’t often realise the importance of privacy as the impact of disclosure is not immediate whereas the benefits of SNS are tangible and felt immediately. While privacy is a basic human right acknowledged by the UN Declaration of Human Rights, users of SNS have to insist on their privacy rights and acquire the technical skills to be able to protect their privacy online. To do so users must be aware of the privacy issues they face online and develop strategies to solve this issues. Nowadays users of social networking sites can choose the level of privacy on their profile, they are able to manage their online privacy themselves and decide if certain information will be visible to the public or only to their friends. â€Å"In order to address users’ privacy concerns, a number of social media and social network websites , such as Facebook, Orkut and Flickr, allow their participants to set the privacy level of their online profiles and to disclose either some or none of the attributes in their profiles† (Zheleva Getoor, 2009, p. 531). Users must therefore learn how to manage those privacy settings to build a secure environment on SNS which will then prevent them from facing issues such as identity theft or stalking. They must make the most of the features provided by SNS to protect their privacy. Developing the appropriate skills to use social networking sites allow users to maintain the fragile balance between online disclosure and privacy. Social media has changed our mind set concerning the amount of personal information that should or should not be rendered public. In the late 1990’s when the internet began gaining popularity it was almost unthinkable to post your photo, location or even your real name online. With SNSs finding success in the mid 2000’s, people allowed this technology to enlarge their comfort zones, as it gave them more freedom to share personal information online and therefore with time making them feel more at ease to do so. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg even goes as far as saying that â€Å"privacy is no longer a social norm† (BCS, 2010). We have been changed by this new technology and while online disclosure has many benefits such as uniting people and creating social bonds, users must keep in mind that they must make the most social networking sites while keeping their right to privacy intact. It has been argued that a balance between privacy and online disclosure is essential when sharing information on SNSs. The dangers of not taking into consideration privacy issues were weighed up against the social benefits of disclosure. It was therefore concluded that the logical solution was for users of SNSs to understand the functioning of social sites and make the best of their privacy settings to create a safe environment online for them to communicate and share personal information with other people. The potential of SNSs to create social enhancement should be embraced but a balance must be constantly kept between privacy and online disclosure. References Barnes, S. (2006). A privacy paradox: Social networking in the United States.First Monday,11(9). doi:10.5210/fm.v11i9.1394 Bcs.org,. (2015).Zuckerberg: Privacy no longer a social-norm | BCS The Chartered Institute for IT. Retrieved 1 June 2015, from http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/34018 Beye, M., Jeckmans, A., Arkins, Z., Hartel, P., Lagendijk, R., Tang, Q. Privacy in Online Social Networks, 1-3. Retrieved from http://doc.utwente.nl/81270/1/Beye12privacy.pdf Boyd, D., Hargittai, E. (2010). Facebook privacy settings: Who cares?.First Monday,15(8). doi:10.5210/fm.v15i8.3086 Debatin, B. (2011). Ethics, Privacy, and Self-Restraint in Social Networking. In S. Trepte L. Reinecke (Eds.), Privacy Online: Perspectives on Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Social Web (pp. 47-60). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Dwyer, C., Hiltz, S., Passerini, K. (2007). Trust and privacy concern within social networking sites: A comparison of Facebook and MySpace. Houghton, D., Joinson, A. (2010). Privacy, Social Network Sites, and Social Relations.Journal Of Technology In Human Services,28(1-2), 74-94. doi:10.1080/15228831003770775 Madden, M. (2012). Privacy management on social media sites. Papacharissi, Z. Gibson, P. L. (2011). Fifteen Minutes of Privacy: Privacy, Sociality, and Publicity on Social Network Sites. In S. Trepte L. Reinecke (Eds.), Privacy Online: Perspectives on Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Social Web (pp. 74-89). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Walther, J. B. (2011). Introduction to Privacy Online. In S. Trepte L. Reinecke (Eds.), Privacy Online: Perspectives on Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Social Web (pp. 3-8). Berlin: Springer-Verlag Westlake, E. (2008). Friend Me if You Facebook: Generation Y and Performative Surveillance.TDR/The Drama Review,52(4), 21-40. doi:10.1162/dram.2008.52.4.21 Zheleva, E., Getoor, L. (2009). To Join or Not to Join: The Illusion of Privacy in Social Networks with Mixed Public and Private User Profiles, 531-535. Retrieved from http://www2009.eprints.org/54/1/p531.pdf Sophie Muthen 18073799 Essay

Does Shakespeare matter? :: essays research papers

In today’s world the quality of the art form called writing is said to be somewhat diminishing, it is important for English literature to keep some studies of classic literature, such as Shakespeare. I think well rounded education must have a strong foundation in both modern and classical literature, for the foundation in classical literature, an in-depth study of Shakespeare’s works would be more than sufficient. Not only was Shakespeare so skilled in his writing that he has become a significant point in the history of literature, but a majority of his works were written on such basic human themes that they will last for all time and must not be forgotten. William Shakespeare has become landmark in English literature. One must be familiar with the early days of English literature in order to comprehend the foundation of much of more modern literature’s basis. Shakespeare’s modern influence is still seen clearly in many ways. The success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the example for the development of modern dramas and plays. He is also acknowledged for being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings. Another sign of a truly dominant writer is one who finds even the entire existing vocabulary of the language limiting to his creativity. Shakespeare often did, and so on occasion created his own form of grammar and vocabulary, much of which has since become commonly used. Few modern writers have the skill to make new words which stick in the language, or to write in such a way that their words become used centuries later. By using just the right combination of words, or by coming up with just the right image, Shakespeare wrote many passages and entire plays that were so powerful, moving, tragic, comedic, and romantic that many are still being memorized and performed today, almost four centuries later. But the greatness of Shakespeare’s ability lies not so much in the basic themes of his works but in the creativity he used to write these stories of love, power, greed, discrimination, hatred, and tragedy. Therefore there can be no doubt that knowledge of the works of Shakespeare is needed for any education of English literature to be considered complete and well rounded.

Stem Cell Research- Reaction Paper

Stem Cell Research- Reaction Paper Reaction Paper: Stem Cell Research Heather A. Lail Liberty University Stem cell research has bought about heated debate since the time it was reviled. Many different debates have been raised to justify and unjustified the use of stem cells for research throughout the years. The two most enduring debates that have stood the test of time have been the legal and ethical issues. The has been documented in countless research studies the advantages of the use of stem cells for research regarding the two issues stated above.There are also countless articles documenting the disadvantages regarding the stated issues. I will discuss what a stem cell is, the different types of stem cells, and the advantages and disadvantages of both types. I will also discuss the two majorly debated issues, legal and ethical, as states above. A stem cell is fundamentally a blank cell that is capable of becoming another more differentiated cell type in the body and can be used to replace or even heal damaged tissues and cells in the body. Embryonic stem cells come from living, human embryos and can be harvested from two sources, embryos and fetuses.Embryonic stem cells are obtained by harvesting living embryos which are generally 5-7 days old. The removal of embryonic stem cells invariably results in the destruction of the embryo. Fetuses are another type of stem cell called an embryonic germ cell can be obtained from either miscarriages or aborted fetuses. Advantages of embryonic stem cells are that they appear to have the potential to make any cell, one embryonic cell line can potentially provide an endless supply of cells with define characteristics, and they are readily available due to in vitro fertilization clinics.Some disadvantages of embryonic stem cells is that they are difficult to differentiate uniformly and homogeneously into target tissue, embryonic stem cells from random donors are likely to be rejected by recipients, they are capable of fo rming or promoting tumor formation, and it is the destruction of a human life. Adult stem cells exist in humans and are used to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found. Adult stem cells come from umbilical cords, placentas, amniotic fluid, existing adult issues and cadavers.The advantages of adult stem cells include adult stem cells from bone marrow and from umbilical cord appear to be as flexible as embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells are already specialized to some extent, recipients receiving the cells are receiving their own cells which significantly reduces rejection of tissue, they are relatively easy to harvest, they do not tend to form tumors, and there is no harm to the donor. (National Institute of Health) The most prevalent legal concerns in terms of stem cell research are laws related to federal funding of the research.In August, 2001 President Bush announced that federal funds would be available to support limited human embryonic stem cell research. Th e fact White House fact sheet setting forth Bush’s policy states â€Å"federal funding will only be used for research on existing stem cell lines that were derived with the informed consent of the donors, from excess embryos created solely for reproductive purposes, and without any financial inducements to the donors†( Shimabukuro).With these limitations no federal funding is to be used for the derivation of stem cell lines derived from newly destroyed embryos, the creation of any human embryos for research purposes, or cloning of human embryos for any purposes. The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005 â€Å"provides for the collection and maintenance of human cord blood stem cells for the treatment of patients and for research† (Shimabukuro).The Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006 â€Å"amends the Public Health Service Act to make it unlawful for any person or entity involved or engages in interstate commerce to either solicit or knowingly acquire, receive, or accept a donation of human fetal tissues knowing that a pregnancy was deliberately initiated to provide such tissue, or knowingly acquire, receive, or accept tissue or cells obtained from a human embryo or fetus was gestated in the uterus of a nonhuman animal† (Shimabukuro).The above federal laws have been put in place in an attempt to alleviate some of the legal issues involved in the use of stem cells for the use of research purposes. The ethical issues debated by the masses regarding stem cell research include evaluating the benefits and harms of embryonic research and the value of the embryo. The benefits of stem cell research are the advances made in medicine in the aspects of somatic gene therapy for genetic disorders and the generation of replacement organs and tissues for transplant.The benefits of stem cell research are vast in the potential of curing certain ailments, disorders, and disease afflicting people. On the other hand of the ethical issue is the value of the embryo. Heated debate on this issue alone has been the mainstream since the first stem cell study was preformed. At one end of the spectrum is the belief that the embryo from the moment of conception is a person in its own right with the same moral status as an adult.On the other end of the spectrum there is an alternative stance that the embryo acquires full personhood and the moral rights by gradual stages during the process of development between conception and birth. (Rickard; Corrigan, Liddell, McMillan, Stewart, and Wallace) I personal hold to the belief that using embryos created and destroyed for the sake of research is wrong in every aspect due to my personal Christian beliefs. Jeremiah 1:4-5, â€Å"The word of the LORD came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations† (NIV).Psalm 127:3, â€Å"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from himâ⠂¬  (NIV). I also feel that even though there are potential benefits of stem cell research, the benefits are just that potential. I personal do not feel the means outweigh the risk.

Making Friends with the Jews in The Boy with the Red...

In the book â€Å"The Boy In The Striped Pajamas† the main character is a 8 year old named bruno. He’s a young boy who has no idea what is going on around him. His father is playing a high roll in the Nazis. To me Bruno is stupid and blind. then i think hes only 8, he wouldnt know any better but in the book he finds out the truth in his like last 30 minutes of his life. He was being brainwashed he was a naive 8 year old. you wanna believe your father is your super hero, even though Bruno’s father thought he was doing right he was 100% wrong. Bruno was blind to what his father has been doing to poor men, women, children, and even babies. Killing people just because of their race. It was never right , Bruno was only 8 though so of course he want†¦show more content†¦Bruno was devastated about leaving his friends at first. Then later on in the book he began to forget the names of his friends. Bruno had his new friend Shmuel so he began to forget the old. So it became easier to deal with. He never really understood the point of the help wearing striped pajamas because maria never wore striped pajamas so it didnt make sense. Bruno becoming friends with shmuel and going under the fence would be a consequence of choice. If his father never brought his family to the out-with house with him Bruno will still be alive. It could just be a guess but Bruno’s mother may not want to be with someone who â€Å"cause† her child’s death cause if he never brought them there she’d still have her son. The father began to see that the place wasnt a place for children but he realised that a little too late. He meant well by wanting to stay around his children. He just shouldn’t have ever brought children where people die everyday. Having his daughter believe that what he’s doing is 100% right. It didn’t seem like they felt any remorse to killing innocent babies and children. Throwing babies into fires it ma kes no sense. â€Å"‘You’re my â€Å"bestfriend, Smuel,’ he said. ‘My best friend for life’† this was my favorite line because i found it adorable and Bruno know what friendship is better than half of my â€Å"friends†. 2. â€Å"Maria, dont you hate it here as well?† i like thatShow MoreRelatedMaking Friends with the Jews in The Boy with the Red Pajamas Essay625 Words   |  3 PagesCharacters in The Boy In The Striped Pajamas Shmuel I liked that Shmuel was a happy kid when he met Bruno and he didnt let the fact that he was a Jew bothered him. Even when Bruno said he wasnt his friend, Shmuel had still forgiven him. I feel bad for Shmuel because a young sweet kid like him shouldnt be in the position he is presently in. Elsa I disliked how Elsa was just fine with the fact that her kids lived next to a concentration camp. 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