Privacy

Evidence from articles and experience, new media is mainly beneficial. However, caution has to be taken when it comes to the internet particularly with the issue of privacy and confidentiality.

Privacy and confidentiality, two words we see a lot specially at the doctor’s office while filling out forms. Privacy is defined as “freedom from unauthorized intrusion: state of being let alone and able to keep certain esp. personal matters to self” (FindLaw Law Dictionary website). Deriving from the word confidentiality, confidential is “known or conveyed only to a limited number of people; marked by or indicative of intimacy, mutual trust, or willingness to confide esp. between parties one of whom is in a position of superiority or containing information whose unauthorized disclosure could be prejudicial to the national interest” (FindLaw Law Dictionary website).
These don’t only pertain to physical world but to the internet as well. With almost the entire world having access to the internet, one of new media’s means of sending information, privacy and confidentiality can be difficult to control. Anyone can put up ANYTHING (eg. Address, phone, full name, social security number) on it, which is the scary part. And it may not be intentional. A real life example of this is my friend’s full name, address and phone number were posted on our company website because there wasn’t a privacy policy. Of course, that was immediately taken care of but it took about a week. Even though it was taken off, people could still have seen it. Luckily, nothing bad came out of this; however, others may not have been so lucky.

Privacy and confidentiality isn’t limited to just one’s personal information. It’s anything someone doesn’t want others to see or reveal. Let’s take for example, the Twilight Saga’s author Stephanie Meyer. I think most of you are familiar or at the very least been exposed to the popular vampire teen series. In any case, she was writing the 5th book of the series when it was illegally posted online without her consent and knowledge. In her official website, she addressed the issue and wrote, “ I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being” (from www.stephaniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html). The keyword here is violation, which is the main issue regarding privacy and confidentiality. She was in the process of writing a novel (private matters) which she shared to a selected few (confidential) but wasn’t ready to share with the public. Because of the way information travels on the internet, the unedited novel was easily and quickly posted and seen by many. With the given premise, her private and confidential rights were violated. She was wronged. Meyer went on to say what happened made her not want to continue, it affected the way she felt which consequently affected her writing.

There’s so much information out there; some are publicized and some aren’t meant to be made known by everyone. The latter is information that is should be kept private and confidential. By not doing so, is a violation of rights which affects a person’s life, thoughts and feelings. So, it is best to take caution with our own information as well as others.

Old VS. New

The best way to distinguish new and old media is the medium used to convey information. New media usually uses advanced technology and the internet to put information out there. It makes information accessible. Take for example the cell phones such as the trendy iPhone. Someone with that phone has to simply go on the web and visit any site containing lastest news. Or that may not even be necessary. You can have an application for a newspaper like the New York Times has for the Blackberry and go straight to the site. For PCs, downloading Google Desktop allows you customize the type of information alerts you want. On the sidebar, you can have stock information, the lastest news, weather updates and more. This way, information comes to you! As opposed to the old media method, information isn’t at your finger tips. For example, a student doing research on the constellations would have to go to the library and look up astronomy books or use an astronomy textbook and browse through it for the information needed. Now, doesn’t this seem more time consuming as opposed to going online, logging on the Newman Library databases, enter the proper criteria and start reading?
The latter is an easier and faster method of obtaining information. And, it’s also a time saver. We live in an age where that saying “Time is money” is definitely applicable. For instance, not having the newest information on a stock at a timely manner can either make or break an investment.

With new media, there is an ease with dispersion of information that is very useful with businesses and individuals. For example, in the article title “An Internal Wiki That’s Not Classified,” it spoke about the handiness of a wiki named Diplopedia, which is open to any one who works in the State Department. Diplopedia allows State Department workers to contribute information needed by users such as Ambassador Ronald P. Spogli, who reads biographies on it often. Using old media wouldn’t be easy or quick. For example, information on newspapers and magazines have to be printed on paper, delivered to distributors and then sold to readers to have information reach people.