My friend just sent me a link to this particular Asiaone forum, discussing the incident where a couple from Tampines Junior College were caught on camera indulging in heavy petting at the back of a bus.
Apparently a passenger photographed them and posted the pictures on Stomp, The Straits Times online forum, describing how the girl was even heard moaning while her boyfriend hugged and kissed her.
When I saw this, the first thought that popped into my head was: so much for internet privacy.
Sooner or later, Web 2.0 might just become synonymous with the intrusion of privacy, with this issue overriding the other virtues of the internet.
Of course, this is not something we want to have. Such postings are already spawning the beginnings of a world of voyeuristic web leeches that feed on the public furore that ensues when they pass off incidents such as these as news-worthy material on the internet.
Comments on this forum and on Stomp questioned the wisdom of the passenger who posted the pictures and the sense of decency of the couple - or rather the lack of one.
However, I think many are missing the larger picture here. Rather, they should consider the danger of the lack of privacy the internet can bring.
Nowadays, it does not have to take a rocket scientist to know how to make videos or post pictures on the internet. Besides, the world wide web spins a huge intricate tapestry of many networks, creating easy access to just about anything that is posted.
Snap a picture, upload it through the numerous mediums provided for that purpose such as photobucket.com and voila, you have scored a sensational hit on the web, spawning a variety of subsequent comments and opinions on forums.
How alarming to think there is a risk of your behaviour being deemed unsightly by another person, recorded on a mobile device and easily uploaded online.
Congratulations, your life has become entertainment fodder for countless of unknown faces living in the virtual universe.
The "world wide web" is no longer merely an alternative adjective to refer to the internet, but has also attained an uncomfortable intrusive connotation - a far-reaching (literally spanning the globe) tangle that threatens to obliterate your privacy with the click of a mouse.
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ReplyDeleteHey! As much as i will like to ask u to send me a link or the photos.. i decided to talk about the more serious stuff first..
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that the world wide web(www) has brought about in a lack of personal privacy and much less to mention that you will get critics from all walks of life.
But are we looking at the issue in a very micro view?
Web 2.0 has brought about many famous start ups such as Youtube which was sold to google for 1.65Billion and Facebook which is expected to bring in 275 Million for the year of 2008(Though has not achieved it).
Even politicians such as John Mc Cain and Barack Obama have adopted the use of internet to reach out to the millions of American citizens during the last campaign. You can find Obama on youtube addressing to the world and he even has his own blog. This allowed his to effective communicate to the world his ideology of Change.
So I believe we should be so myopic and condemn the internet usage just cause of some JC kids and forget the big picture.
I agree with Guoquan that the web has introduced boundless possibilities. However, we can't ignore the fact that it has also brought along the perils such as invasion of privacy and potential malicious activities such as online crimes.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually not the matter of what the web can do, be it good or bad, but rather what the PEOPLE using the web wants to do with it that causes debates and uproars in this Wild Wild Web.