Privacy and Confidentiality

Being that new media is extremely technology enabled, there can be many issues surrounding privacy and confidentiality. Anything that is located online (photos, passwords, home addresses, personal information)  is going to be accessible to a larger audience, and by people from all over the world. Even if something is not publically posted, there are always ways for people to see it or gain access to it by breaking security and hacking for example. Additionally, anything that once existed on the Internet is probably still there on the darknet so privacy and confidentiality do not really exist. 

In an article by Rebecca Greenfield from the Atlantic, privacy settings on Facebook are getting more and more complex, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the settings work. Randi Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg's sister) had posted a photo of a family outing on Facebook and indicated that she only "wants her friends to see the photos that she has posted. But the way Facebook works, friends of your friends tagged in a photo album also see the entire roll, unless you choose otherwise in the settings of the alum posted." The photo was then shared by a friend of a friend, who was merely admiring the family photo stating it "seemed so fun and normal." Though seemingly harmless, Randi was taken aback because she thought she was keeping her photo private by only allowing accessibility to friends, but it had gotten into the hands of a friend's friend, which she saw as a violation of privacy. Privacy and confidentiality also becomes an issue because it is considered differently depending on the person.