Personal Rights in the New Tech Age

One of the biggest trends in society now is the use of social networks. If someone is not on Facebook, Tumblr or other networks that allow us to connect with friends, family, etc., they are usually the last to be informed of the latest gossip. Although there are few people who do not use these programs their main reason for not doing so is often for safety reasons. Many people believe it is not safe to be putting so much personal information on the Internet for anyone to see. However, the risk can be eliminated if you use these social programs accordingly. For example, Facebook has many privacy settings that allow users to limit who is viewing their information, as well as information about themselves that others are posting i.e. tags, or posts on their on page. This causes users to feel more comfortable with allowing more information of them to be distributed because they know who is viewing said information. It is not up to the website to decide what information of the user is distributed, it is all determined by what the users wishes to share. Whether they post it and use the privacy settings to keep certain people from viewing it, or they simply do not post it at all. This allows the user to have more freedom while using the website and also it gives them the personal right to do as they please.

The main concern for many people to not be apart of social networks is the risk of having their personal information for anyone to see. They feel that if they were to use a website such as Facebook they are allowing themselves to be taken advantage of and have anyone view personal information about themselves. However, this should not be a concern for people when joining a social networking site. One reason being, on Facebook, others can only view information about you that you are willing to share. What this means is, if you do not one someone to see something you simply do not include it in your Facebook page. Another reason people should not be concerned when using a social networking site is because such site take many precautions as to protect their users information. An example is Facebook's detailed security and privacy rules and regulations they follow for each customer's page. They make sure to keep the users private information just that, private. These are a few reasons users should feel comfortable using networking sites.

Social media sites are all mostly set up with Data Use Policy tabs as well as witness disclaimers. Facebook works to gain the trust of its' users to ensure they know they do not share any information that one puts up. There are exceptions; if they have received the users permission; given the user notice; or removing the user's name and any other personal identifiable information (Facebook: Data Use Policy). Along with Facebook, the Hub, another social forum-type of website, builds their forum up on trust within it's community. They believe that every user is accountable for what