Social Networking: Political/ Legal
In cyberspace, possibilities are endless, anything goes. I mean people can get away with a lot of things in the virtual world, music is downloaded every second of the day. Imagine going into a CD store and grabbing whatever album you liked and just walked out of the store. There would be some serious consequences, probably jail time. Now why is that okay in cyberspace? Being on the internet is a safe zone for some people. They feel as if they are invisible in a world with millions of people, people doing the same thing they are. So much goes on in cyberspace its hard to keep track of, which is why it is hard to set laws and regulations on it. People always find a way to beat the system. The world we live in today is filled with many different characters; good, bad, pretty, ugly, smart, stupid, harmless, dangerous, you name it. The internet is like a candy story for a kid, it has everything! When you add social networking sites to the internet, now thats the icing on the cake. Come on now, people can interact with anyone they want in real-time, meaning at the click of a button you are communicating with some one possibly from a different country at that exact same moment! This all just seems to good too be true. Most of the time when its to good to be true probably means that it is too good to be true. Social Networking sites have crashed into our lives like a tidal wave and many people do not know how to handle it. Creating these accounts have dug people into holes that they never imagined they would be in.
Information posted on a social networking site does not go unseen. People can view information one has posted such as the user, the users “friends”, the website, the world. For the people who believe they can be invisible on the internet, must truly believe in the supernatural. Information posted on the internet lives forever and anyone can see it. Shady things do go on in the cyber world so regulations such as saving information is a must. There are privacy settings on these sites saying that users can not get a hold of your information which is a great setting to have but people do not realize that the owners of the site have access to your every move. Account holders use these sites to interact whether the interactions are good or bad. Not knowing all the rules, people feel as if they can say whatever they want in cyber space, its freedom of speech. Users engaging in casual conversations most likely will go unnoticed. The users who think they are invisible and feel that their racial slurs will go unnoticed are wrong. If one person is offended by any comment on any site, they have the freedom to complain. This is where the law is enforced. If one were to take some one to court for a racial slur that was posted on a site, they need to remember that whatever was said is saved to the website. In a nutshell if what was said is true, they will be called out on it. There is no hiding.
“Strawberry fields forever” is just a random saying one wrote on another’s wall. Others know that line from a famous band called The Beatles. Is it okay to post that information on some ones wall not giving credit to The Beatles? In other words, would a student take another students paper and hand it in as their own? Even though its just three simple words, it can cause controversy if the owner of the material feels their using there lyrics in a wrong manor. It can very well be considered copyrighting. Now, while that quote posted on ones wall is in fact from The Beatles, they are using it in as “Fair Use”. “Fair use” was created to allow the use of copyrighted works for criticism, news reporting, research and scholorship, and classroom instruction. The nature of the quote being used in ones status was not intended in a bad way. They were expressing themselves through lyrics. If the person had taken lyrics from the entire song and posted it up on their wall without recognition to The Beatles, that would be copyright. People need to be careful of what they are copying and pasting on their walls. If the information one is taking from some one else is not cited, they can be sued for copyrighting.
Many of these social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have tools that allow users to post pictures to their page. Uploading pictures to ones computer is very simple. You plug your camera wire into your computer and press upload. After one has successfully done that, they have the option on their site to post all of these photos and make it into an album. After an album is made, the user has the option to tag all of their friends in these pictures. To “tag” someone in a picture means that you are posting a picture on some one elses site. Normally you tag some one in a picture because they are in it. Like most settings users can limit who can see these pictures. Once again the privacy setting is great but the same rules apply and these photo’s stick around. Posting picture’s believe it or not can really cause some serious damage. In many situations these photos are solid evidence. In some cases, these photo’s can be used in child custody cases. “Pictures of a parent in various compromising situations while a child or children are in the parent’s custody can present a major problem in a custody lawsuit. Partying, drinking, and negative statements about children used on social networking sites can be offered as evidence in Court. Parents should use caution when placing pictures and other information on their social networking site.”(Beware 1) Social networking has also been used in sexual harassment cases. ”In Houston, Texas, a plaintiff was portrayed as a modest, innocent “wannabe nun.” (Beware 1) The opposing counsel found a MySpace page that painted a very different picture of a plaintiff, with numerous photos of her in scanty or provocative attire and engaged in suggestive horseplay at bars and with friends.” Social networking has also been used in sexual harassment cases. “In Houston, Texas, a plaintiff was portrayed as a modest, innocent “wannabe nun.” The opposing counsel found a MySpace page that painted a very different picture of a plaintiff, with numerous photos of her in scanty or provocative attire and engaged in suggestive horseplay at bars and with friends.”
Social Networking sites have become rapidly become popular. Changes are being made to these sites everyday. The fact that it has become such a phenomenon so fast, people dont know how to react. Not everybody knows all the rules, which is why people are getting in trouble for it. The rise of social networking sites has its ups and downs. Including the government, we do not know how to properly handle it. The more we live in the age of the internet the more we are becoming aware of the pro’s and con’s of these virtual worlds. Social networking is a great tool to use to contact people throughout the world but no matter how convenient it may be people always need to be cautious in a virtual world.
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