Technology and Identity (facebook might be watching?)

As a personal reflection on facbook.com I have to say that I do not like this web site. Am I on it? Of course I am. Do I use it? Sure I do. Am I addicted to it? Of course I am not. The question that puzzles me is: why I am on this web site? I guess I don’t have a choice. If I want to be updated and communicate with other students, I have to be a member of facebook.com. For me, it is “I need” not “I want”.
Facebook.com as a phenomena attracted great attention among almost everybody. Yet the major reason that makes me not to like it is the lack of privacy it has.
Hass article is a bit old since Facebook is open for everyone and everywhere now; it is not limited to college students anymore. This expansion reflects the need for the website to attract more members. This expansion also affects the privacy the members have since members can see what other members are doing, look at their pictures, activities, and even more specific details about their lives. Yet, our culture values personal privacy very highly and considers any breaching of it as a crime punished by the law. This leaves me with the question, who and where the line should be drawn? I believe Facebook can be a great test for the value of personal privacy on an individual level. It is a contradiction when we complain about the government getting into our data and information, regardless of the reason, yet, we are willing to expose our privacy in this manner on facebook, or any other website for that matter.

Hass mentioned in her article how Facebook became a place for political debates and recruiting; she also mentioned how Facebook was used for racial conflicts. This is shows that what we put “out there” can come back and be an evident against us. I believe the sense of personal responsibility is missing when it comes to dealing with open forums and social websites such as Facebook and My Space. As Hass states, Facebook is “changing the nature of public and private identity” and as a result of that, we should take cautions when we deal with social networks. In addition, we have to watch out for the illegal practices such as stalking and harassment. It might be interpreted that we welcome strangers and people we never met to be friends with us if we put our most private information on the website.