Response to lecture 4

Response to lecture 4: privacy on the Internet
"Facebook is a conditioning system to teach us to under value your privacy"- this was an eye opening quote from the video in today's lecture. I think the Internet as a whole conditions society to under value your privacy. As Internet users in the web 2.0 age, the read-write age, a shift has occurred from simply being consumers of the Internet, to being producers and contributors of the Internet. But under what pretence of ownership or privacy do we place this information on the Internet. As a (somewhat) informed Internet user, I believe that I have duped into believing that I am protecting my privacy on the Internet. When it comes to the use of social networking sites, where there has been public concern, and media attention given to issues of privacy, I personally in no way delude myself into believing that the information I freely place on these sites is private. Although I make my personal fb profile private, the I understand that the information I put on my profile is seen and can be used by everyone I choose to share it with, and the owners of facebook, and everyone facebook chooses to sell this info to. I therefore take it with a grain of salt, if I wouldn't want the world to see it I do not post it on the Internet. But what about the information that you don't post on the Internet? It had never occured to me, that every google search I have ever done is attached to my google account, that every msn conversation I have ever had is stored and property of the company supplying me with this technology. Although we as consumers of the Internet appear to be at least aware of privacy issues regarding social networking and the content we publish on the Internet, there appears to be a vail of false anonymity regarding our general use of the Internet. When our ISP, and the platforms we search the web on (e.g. Google) track our every mouse click, what implications does this have to our offline lives?. While google may only use my search history for 'marketing' purposes at present, what is to stop them from freely publishing this information, or selling it when google hits hard financial times. Moreover on this topic, if everyone thing we have ever searched for or viewed on the Internet is monitored and recorded, is this simply the price we pay for access to this technology, or is this beginning to mirror social control. Do we as willing consumers not deserve privacy? How far are we from the 'big brother' type monitoring of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and if we are, how do we reserve this and regain our privacy? But as with John the Savage, I do so "like the inconveniences" (1932, Huxley).