Assignment:
Privacy in a social world
Ember and Abrams (2015) begin the article with a story about Crocs sandals. A mother had posted an image of her daughter wearing Crocs on Instagram. Much to her surprise, a reporter later contacted her regarding the image. While the Crocs company saw this as an opportunity to showcase a customer expressing genuine pleasure with her purchase, the mother felt that her (and her daughter's) privacy had been violated. There has been some litigation over the issue as well. According to copyright law, the rights to a photo belong to the photographer (Ember & Abrams, 2015). However, this is complicated somewhat as the law treats editorial and advertising use of intellectual property differently. Further, the user agreement at social networking sites intentionally leaves this area murky. Some companies have begun to seek permission from users before using their property as part of their advertising campaigns. I think this is a smart decision regarding protection of their brand.
I was attracted to this article (among the other choices) as I am concerned over the loss of privacy we are seeing in this country. Even more concerning is the lost expectation of privacy. Most people I discuss this with express that privacy doesn't exist anymore, that I should just accept this as part of life in the 21st century. I don't believe the populace will be able to win this battle in the courtroom. If people refuse to use sites that harvest their information, the free market would resolve this issue. I'm not sure if this is a question of awareness or if the vast majority of people just don't care enough to change their behavior. I hope for the best but I fear this is an uphill battle for people of my perspective.