Thinking of privacy issues

Not directly related to my wiki topic…

I finally took a minute to look at Facebook, though I didn’t create a profile for myself…Both of my neighbor’s kids are home from UF for Spring Break so I looked them up – whoa! My first thought was of voyeurism (me) and exhibitionism (them). I’ve known them (or thought I did) for almost 15 years, but I was definitely surprised at their self-declared profiles, much less some of the pictures and conversation. Yes, there was the partying, profanity, and sexual innuendos (but as old as I am, I still remember my first college days…) – but I was more amazed at the openness. Since it is a public platform, I thought about the lack of privacy – do they realize that anyone can view their profiles – do they care?

This is an example of how one’s private life becomes public in a big way…Social engineering makes athlete choke. Again, I’m not sure that all of the consequences/factors of social software and Web 2.0 are known, but it appears that most anything private can become public, which in turn can influence one’s present and future. As with most anything, there are pros and cons – but it is considerably different! And definitely an area to engage our students in learning about both the choices and the consequences.