03.25.09
Social network sites ‘monitored’
The Home Office said it was needed to tackle crime gangs and terrorists who might use the sites, but said it would not keep the content of conversations.
Civil liberties campaigners have called the proposal a “snoopers’ charter”.”
I’m normally the first person to moan about the government taking liberties with our privacy, but in this case I see no problem. After all social network sites only have the data that you wish to place on them. If you don’t want people looking in your living room you put up net curtains, if you don’t want people looking at your personal data you don’t join a social network site.
The government is attacking our civil liberties in much more insidious manners than just looking at data which we choose to provide to a website.
For example, there is a certain expectation of privacy when you send an email but the government want to snoop on them, just like we don’t expect our paper based mail to be opened and read.
Mary said,
March 25, 2009 at 10:52
Depends on the extent to which they’re doing it, though.
If I post something on an open, google-searchable website then certainly it is my own dumbass fault if someone reads something I shouldn’t have written. If I post something on a messageboard which is only viewable by logged-in or invited users, then it’s still pretty much my dumbass fault as I don’t know who the other users are or why they joined and I cannot expect them to treat my ramblings as confidential.
But lots of the sites I use have a facility for direct messages, sent between two people who know each other and supposedly not viewable by any other user. And even though I don’t think that the sort of messages I send in that way would be interesting to any kind of officialdom… I don’t want them being monitored.
Nina said,
May 12, 2010 at 22:42
I totally agree with the article. We’re doing a debate in school about this. I think the government should monitor social networking sites. It’ll help a lot. If you’re so concerned with someone reading what you have on your facebook then just don’t put it up! It’s that simple! It’s not that hard to understand!