Cause and Effect of Privacy Violation on Social Media and the Internet - Essay Example

Cause and Effect of Privacy Violation on Social Media and the Internet Social media has outrageously become a viral disease infecting almost everybody. The outburst of social media is fairly recent. Before the spreading of social media there was not much interaction between people specially those residing in far off areas. People were merely concerned with their own lives having no sort of connection or affiliation with people living in distant areas. During the early 2000's the social media became very popular and people started to use it.

Now people are literally addicted to social media using it for hours and hours without getting bored of it what so ever. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter are some of the most popular and most commonly used social networking sites having masses who use it on daily basis. The popularity of these social networking sites is very addictive. People update and upload statuses, check in at various places, upload pictures which have made tracking very convenient. Many people do not care about their privacy settings and unaware of that anybody can have access to their personal pictures, locations etc.

many people are giving their information which is generally very personal on these sites through which all internet users can easily access it. "Social networking have also obtained poor reputation for protecting users' privacy due to a continual flow of media stories discussing privacy problems." (Tyler, 122) Some of the most common issues that have arisen with the propagation of social are internet dating, social profiling, cyber stalking, disclosure of information, as well as government using information available on such websites without any search warrant.

Today many individuals get involved in each other merely through these social networking websites. At times these people turn out to be completely fake using such individuals for their own advantages. Fantasies are developed and then advantages are taken. Today, many young girls are a victim of this internet dating boom. Another problem with privacy violation is that pictures are being used for various purposes. Many cases have been observed through which pictures are being misused and pornography is being promoted.

Cyber-stalking has also increased with the passage of time increasing the risk of such problems. The concept of checking in at various locations is very new but that has increased security issues. Now one can locate someone very easily and can also keep track of individual's recent whereabouts. This has caused ample problems for instance; the government or any other organization can easily track or investigate without any legal warrant which is against the law. Intruding into ones privacy is something unethical but these days it is very common thanks to such sites which have made it so convenient for almost anyone who intends to do so.

In a nutshell, social networking is beneficial till it is used for the purpose of fun, exploration or networking but when its advantages are turned into disadvantages by merely using it for the wrong purpose then rules of privacy are violated which isn’t acceptable in law as well as morally. WORKS CITEDMoore, Tyler, David J. Pym, and C. Ioannidis. Economics of information security and privacy. New York: Springer, 2010. Print.