MySpace used to solve crimes

This article is old but interesting:



I personally don't use MySpace, but I can imagine a few of you might. This brings up a question of whether there is an expectation of privacy on the internet. Some of you may have heard about the Saugeen Stripper at the University of Western Ontario, where some guys in a residence hired another student for a striptease for another student. The pictures got leaked on a few blogs, spread all over Canada when the Toronto Star picked it up, and this person's life changed forever.

So, today's questions are:
1) Is there an expectation of privacy online?
2) Who is responsible for managing all or part of that expectation of privacy?

(This is in response to the comments (including my own) that there is nothing new to discuss, I'm going to attempt to start some discussion on some recent topics I've seen in the news. Let's act like adults, please, and others can join in as the feel like it.)

From my friends in India, I heard news some time back. A lot of private MMS clips were leaked on some of forums and blogs. This caused lots of agitation there. There were police cases and what not.

There still exist forums where continuously such content is posted. Almost every day there is one such clip comes out where either some couple is having sex, or some college student is being ragged and she strips in front of camera which by the way is world's eye to the event.

Such people have no other choice but to hide from people afterwards. There is no possibility for them to live with dignity after such a farce. Not at all.

I wouldn't expect any privacy online in forums or blogs. Because when I am putting those things online, I do expect to make new friends whom I haven't and probably will never see in my life. I never post any such thing on my blog, like about any illegal things I perform, or pictures or anything. I try not to post any person's pictures on blogs or forums except for one or two occasions because it may end up as a unwanted compromise eventually. Similarly I try not to discuss my personal problems publicly with anyone.

There has been one or two incidences where I was flamed by people for giving hints about their real identity. I learned from it positive way and have tried to protect my and others' privacy since then, because it is better to be safe than sorry.

I don't know if I'd say there was an expectation of privacy for most people. I think most assume what they say and do can't be traced back to them, but privacy isn't a direct concern because the possibility may seem abstract and remote. People may not have an opinion on whether or not to expect privacy just because they've never really questioned it before.


Should there be an expectation of privacy?

That's difficult. My first impulse is 'not really' as I think you should be willing to own up to what you say online. But in a time where employers may check the 'net to see what you've done, and have things that may have no relation to the position affect your chances, something is not right there. Do we have to sacrifice free speech for fear of our employability or whatever else? Just because the internet has more permanence and searchability than everyday spoken word, should we have to be careful what we say for fear of reprisal later on?




The individual, of course. I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't think privacy is impossible, you just have to be smart about it.

Then again, I have to question much of the public's awareness of the situation, as well as how much they care. Seems kind of an abstract threat. Heck, it's ridiculous how often virus and other malware is not taken care of, and that is a direct threat to more than privacy.

This is not any different than speaking up things in a cafeteria except that it reaches to more people and is more documented to have traced back. I agree that the individual has to take responsibility of what he/she posts/says. And then ready to face whatever consequences if there might be.

That's probably a better question.

To a certain extent, yes. I hope that encrypted communications (which by definition, I want to keep secret) aren't silently decoded by the NSA or CSE.

On the flip side, the intenet is by definition public. Google and the Wayback Machine will index and retain anything it can get its hands on, and all I have is the hope that a robots directive will stop it. MySpace? I don't know, but unless MySpace has a 'keep private' option, probably not.