Comments on: Some thoughts about online privacy.

By: Anonymous Surfing

Anonymous Surfing — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:13:00 +0000

I agree and disagree. The photo example: it’s different in the fact that those paper photos were probably passed around at a family get-together. And as Nadine mentioned, those pictures may not be pictures you want to share with students or certain colleagues.

But, yes, it’s def a risk you take when you create an online presence. But just because you want an online presence to either connect with friends, expand visibility for a business or brand, or other reasons, should you be forced to sacrifice privacy?

There may be certain info you want to share with certain people but not others. There may be certain info you want to give the site for various reasons but you want the expectation of it being private. And this isn’t a problem just on social networks, it’s a problem when you simply surf the web. Privacy issues go way deeper, we’re just scratching the surface here.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:52:00 +0000

Hi Doug

Sorry it’s taken a while to reply. Partly insanely busy at work, and partly I’ve been mulling over the answers. My honest response to your very good question is I don’t know. I am sure that my kids have been photographed without my knowing, or being asked. If I actually saw that happen, I think I have to say it would depend on who or where it was. But I’m not certain how I would deal with it. Perhaps I would ask them not to take any more, but as to whether I would actually request that they delete it – not sure.
In response to the second question, I think I may if I knew there was a particular photo on there that I objected to. I can see the argument that says that if I am on facebook/myspace I can control what is on there, and as I think about my young children growing up, then I may have to reevaluate my current stance.

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:04:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Nadine. Some questions:

- What would you do if someone took a picture of your kids *without* asking?
- Would you consider going on Facebook to ‘untag’ yourself from photos?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:20:00 +0000

Thanks for the post. You make some very valid points. I think a lot of it comes down to an individual’s personality. There are those of us who are naturally more extrovert than others, and feel happy sharing their lives publicly on the internet. And there are those of us who would rather that the whole world did not know our business. I don’t think we can say one way is right and the other isn’t.
Personally, I do object to photos of me being tagged on Facebook. I chose not to have a Facebook account. If you are going to display a picture of me, it would be courteous to ask first, and respect my decision to either agree or not. This was no different to old fashioned photos being passed around. I have no objection to others seeing the pics if I know who those others are, but I wouldn’t be inclined to share photos of me, say, from a fancy dress party with my high school students, and there are several colleagues who have those same students as friends on Facebook.
I live in Asia, and people frequently stop us and ask to take photos of our fair, blue-eyed children. I always say no, politely. When our kids are old enough to decide for themselves and appreciate the potential consequences of saying yes, it will be their call.
I don’t have my name and number in the directory either.
You could be forgiven for thinking I am antisocial. Maybe in cyberspace I am, though not in person!
Keep up the thought-provoking blogging. I like to be made to think about why I think the way I do!