Is “Privacy” real anymore?

With all our mobile devices, it has become so much easier now more than ever to connect people, share information and also put society under surveillance most of the time without our knowledge or permission. Such cases can be illustrated with the article below.

In an article written in the Daily mail from UK, it shows just how much others are watching us, whether we like it or not. The article explains that a passenger on board a delayed flight live tweets the moment of a couple breaking up their relationship. The passenger then goes on to narrate the entire situation, typing out the couple’s conversation with each other.

Many people can argue that this was an example of invasion of privacy. But the couples are not without fault as their voices were raised enough that the passenger could hear them from the next row, in a case of mutual disregard of respect for other’s privacy.

I believe that the boundary between private and public space has been blurring rapidly. And as long as there are people joining social networks, private and public spaces will continue to merge. But this is not necessarily a bad thing if used correctly to help others and spread awareness of urgent issues. Many people don’t yet realize that they have the ability to privatize, to a small extent, their information. It can come in different forms such as Facebook’s privacy feature. In my opinion, we just have to be careful of what we put online and take full advantage of any privacy setting available. (260 words)

Student name: Harina Rachel Anne Aristan

Reference: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3208816/So-just-going-phase-Couple-s-break-board-flight-live-tweeted-fellow-passenger.html