Privacy

Privacy is an issue that is becoming more of a hot-button issue with the explosive growth of new media. It doesn't take much to find debates on how social media websites such as Facebook & Twitter are reacting to privacy concerns. Why are people so concerned? Well for one, new media becomes an outlet for people to expose different parts of their life to the public. Usually, it's in a controlled environment, where only the people you want to see the posts may see it.

There are multiple problems to this however. The first problem being the open-ness of the internet and today's digital world. Although what you post may seem to be private, there are usually ways in which people that want to view a post or picture of yours can view it. Despite someone's best attempts, it's hard to prevent someone from getting their hands on your information and this can be disastrous. For one, somebody can quickly grab information such as hometown and birthday, information which can be used for malicious intentions such as fraud. In addition, one can study behavioral patterns for other ill intentions. One can just check one's profile to see if they've checked into some place other than home, perhaps in preparation of a robbery.

Another problem that rises is how the host of this new media chooses to utilize your information. Regardless of how tight you set your privacy settings to, the host, such as Facebook and Twitter, will always have access to your information. You become a sitting duck to their ambitions. For one, Facebook utilizes your information and search patterns to come up with targeted advertisements.  This may not be welcomed by people with Facebook accounts.

In conclusion, although new media allows for many benefits, privacy is a huge issue that comes with all the good. One must be aware of his behavior and actions on new media, because it's usually available for all to see.