A school district in California is paying $40,000 to monitor public posts by students. As students tweet and post pictures on Facebook, the data is being sold to monitoring companies that process and flag suspicious content. Through the aid of this program this school district has been able to detect suicidal students and provide counseling. Cyber-bullying and drug abuse are also kept on the radar. Internet monitoring programs raise an interesting question. Should there be such a thing as public privacy? Is it right for social media networks to sell access rights to my public content? While these questions have many people concerned, the bottom line is that social media is public. While a photographer must obtain written permission to publicly use your photo, we preemptively forfeit this protection as we accept online terms of use agreements. Best to learn quickly- public posts are never private.
Police, schools tap social media to track behavior
At least the information is being used to help students. There are plenty of other uses for public posts that aren't so noble.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a good thing, but it shouldn't take long for someone to screw up and abuse this system.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea, hopefully what follows is the same.
ReplyDeleteIt's noble to help prevent teenage suicide, but I do find this practice to be a little creepy.
ReplyDeleteA lot of constitutional rights don't apply to minors in schools. I don't think they have the right to bear arms (not that I disagree with this practice). This is just another way that they are treated differently for the sake of safety.
ReplyDelete