Facebook Monitors, the New Hall Monitor?

With social media's rise in popularity, people have both become less likely to censor themselves online, as well as using it as a resource to do "research" on other people. Although many of us are guilty of "Facebook Stalking" our peers and celebrities, we tend to get a bit more defensive upon finding out that other people use the same tactics to find out information on us.

When it comes to employers looking at what employees post, I don't see any problem with it. There is a reason why you have the ability to make your account private if you want, and by choosing to allow anyone on the internet to be able to view your profile, you have no right to complain when people are able to look at what ever you choose to put out there. It becomes a bit more tricky to tell right from wrong once  you take into account the companies that add you in secret to be able to monitor you. That I don't agree with. If an employer wants to see my social media presence, they should either look at what is publicly available or add me using a profile that makes it clear as to who it is.

Although employers and companies can justify keeping the company image by monitoring their employees who are on their payroll, the same excuse does not cover school administrators of secondary schooling. From my perspective, school boards are trying to play parent to the children in their schools. If middle and high schoolers choose to post personal and/or obscene things online, it is their right. If something legally questionable comes up then it's a job for the police, not their teachers.

Google- The Unmasker of All Secrets

Google has been the topic of several privacy questions in recent media: are they violating our privacy by monitoring everything we search? I don't believe so.

Although there have been cases where Google has been guilty of violating privacy settlements (such as this lawsuit back in 2012), many of the of the ways that Google "invades" the privacy of our searches are actually listed in the user agreement, which we all know that no one actually reads.

Google uses the data from our internet searches in many ways, from using them to tailor ads to try and fit our interests, to collecting the data for companies to give them an idea as to what their consumers want. All of this is outlined in the privacy policy that all users are required to sign before making an account. For people that don't necessarily have an account, but still have their data collected: Using Google as your search engine of choice gives the company implied consent, meaning that the fact that you are using their site assumes that you are agreeing to the companies policies such as search data usage.

In sort, I don't believe that Google is overstepping their bounds by monitoring our searches for the simple fact that we all technically agree to it by either simply using their search engine, or checking off the privacy agreement without actually reading it like we are supposed to. If you still have a problem with how Google uses your data, try an engine such as DuckDuckGo, which is a site that is based on the principle of allowing users to search without having to worry about their data being tracked.

Just a Blogger Blogging About Bloggers on Blogging

I looked at the entry in Rebecca Blood's blog where she interviewed Tiffany B. Brown, who is currently an Interactive Developer from the Atlanta area.

She started her first blog as a way to promote herself professionally as a coder, but she has created two other blogs since. Her two other blogs, BlackFeminism.org and CulturedWino.com, receive varying amounts of traffic compared to her first blog, although BlackFeminism.org has received much more attention and comments.

She was a journalism major in college, but was never a professional writer. Throughout her blogging career, she has noticed a shift in her writing style from being more professional, to the freedom of using her own first-person voice when discussing topics.

Although she does make money from her blogs, she still keeps her regular job and blogs for the ability to connect, share, and debate. I believe that Tiffany is a great example of using blogging to share your passions, without it having to consume your entire life.