Privacy and the Online Public Sphere

When asked in the lecture about who is concerned with their online safety or safety in general, I was quite suprised that only a few put their hands up. But I think the reason why no one else did was because they were unsure of what their online safety constitutes. People need to think beyond just clicking the 'make your profile private' button and dig deep into all the access ways of the online world. I.P address, googlemap, google search engine, online networks, through all of these your valuable information is able to be accessed and outsiders are able to search through your private informaiton. Take for example an episode of 60minutes a few months ago where the reporter was able to access so much information of one random girl that she was able to find her at her job, during work hours, know exactly what she looks like, and have her contact details. Now if that doesnt make you think about internet safety, what will. i asked a friend her opinion of the matter and she thinks (studying law and all) that its your option to put whatever you want on the internet, and by putting it on the internet it means its out there for everyone to see, use, and access, just as blogs are, we can write our opinion, or comment about others, with or without their permission. Hearing on the radio this morning (Flava 95.8) a conversation with the hosts about online networks, and open opinion applications are now being censored, and you cant just write what you want. I think this is partly due to the Paul Henry case. But sure this could be good as internet bullying might be prevented or racial slurs be confined to personal thoughts, but really aren't they taking away a right we have a human beings? The freedom of speech, and being in a changing world it is online communication which is leading the way. Therefore shouldnt we be more concerned with those who are chosen to censor our words because they hold all of our information, I think if you put it on the internet then you want someone to set it, if you didnt then you probably would have dial-up, or no facebook page.