I've been wondering for quite some time about what my stance is on online privacy. On the one hand, it's nice to be able to be who you are on things like face book and in your blogs without having to block people with passwords and constantly watch what you write on friend's profiles. Isn't that the point of an online diary? On the other hand, the recent developments of social networks on the internet may have created more problems than they have solved. Employers regularly go behind potential employee's backs to decide whether they want to hire a person who has a picture on face book in which they are holding a bear. It's easy to say that I just wouldn't work for snakes like that who judge my potential performance (whether it be in an academic context or job context) because of what I write on people's walls or what I look like in a picture. On the other hand, even before the internet promoted such openness employers found other ways to do this. If I really wanted to write all of the crazy shit that goes on and what I really think about things I would have an anonymous web log like many people do. I'm writing about this right now because a recent event involving web openness has really had me thinking more critically about this.
So a few days ago I received a recent letter from my former camp employer telling me that she had found a picture of a naked male on my face book page and that, as she noticed, I had recently become friends with a 12 year-old camper. Thus, I may have inadvertently violated some serious federal laws by distributing child pornography to a minor. Now I can see how this was incredibly offensive to her as well as people reading this blog but let me explain what really happened. I have a ridiculous friend who does stupid things when he is drunk (more so than most drunk people). In this case, a friend of his took a picture of him doing the "mangina" (see http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=man-gina) and I commented on the picture stating that it was disgusting. Even though neither my friend nor I posted the picture, because I commented on it, it came on to my recent activity page that every one sees on face book. Because I have my profile on limited access to campers and other young people I don't think any one saw this but I just can't believe how things like this can happen. Some how I get mixed up in allegations of gay child pornography when not trying. Guess I better straighten up and be more careful from now on.
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2 comments:
careful, trainwreck
See, this is obviously why you will never shake the nickname TW. No matter how innocent or good intentioned you are (and I'm thinking back to picking up a certain credit card on a certain Mac tennis road trip to Iowa) things will come back and bite you in the ass. I can't begin to fathom why this always happens to you, but it does, and it sucks. This also gets back somewhat to the question I posed to you on facebook about whether judges and prosecutors actually exacerbate racial problems in this country or simply reflect the reality of everyday life in the courtroom. At some point in your life, and perhaps this has already happened, the reality that you are very unlucky is going to come back and get you. My advice to you at this point in your life is to be careful, but not stopping living life as the TW that I love as a friend (don't want any homoeroticism in a response to this post). This may all seem like a dreary proposition, but I also know that everyone I know that associates with you realizes that you have a huge heart and truly are the friendliest person in the MIAC. This all means that at some point this good will you have generated will come back to help you out, more than any TW luck has ever hurt you. This good will is not just karma, but rather it is investing in people by treating them the way you do. As your friends grow into positions of responsibility (hard to fathom now, but will happen) they gain power. Not just money, but influence, respect, and political capital. This will in turn benefit you more than you will ever know. The old phrase "It's not what you know it's who you know," is only half of the equation. It is also about how you treat the people you know. I miss you, and hope to get to the east coast soon.
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