Privacy in Information Technology

Short Essay Sample about Privacy in Information Technology

Information technology such as the Internet has changed the way that communication is carried out. Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and others have facilitated people in sharing ideas, photos, information, and communication with one another, but have allegedly limited or destroyed people’s privacy. Such web sites have been accused of owning all content that is posted within them and not allowing people to permanently erase content that they once posted, or that they may find harmful or disrespectful to themselves. Hence, multiple copies of all content are kept in store and they cannot be permanently removed by users. Accordingly, their privacy is challenged (Calayonnadies, 2003).

However, the statement that privacy does not exist in the 21^st century may also hold some truth in it. In an era of smart phones, YouTube, Internet, and other technological devices, it is very easy to record videos of people, take pictures of them, view information regarding them via the Internet; it is also very easy and accessible to use pictures they have posted online, and perform a variety of other functions without asking the permission of the person whose information you have used or posted. Hence, by using all of these sites and technological devices, a person automatically limits his/her privacy. Moreover, a person who is not even using these programs may be targeted through having his/her pictures and videos posted on these sites without permission. In such cases, it is nearly impossible to protect ones privacy in all circumstances and in all instances (Timm & Duven, 2008).

However, the point to be noted is that while privacy does not exist completely in the 21^st century, this does not mean that a person should try and adjust to these circumstances. It still is and should be considered ethically wrong for websites and people to disregard a person’s privacy and prevent them from erasing content that they do not find favorable to them anymore.

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