Battles between ethical decisions and legal standards make it nearly impossible for the public to have any sense of privacy in the Digital Age

Today’s society is in the midst of a digital revolution, that is unlike any other transition in recent history. Over the past few years, the world wide web, high-speed internet, and social media have exploded making society today heavily dependent on digital media. Because of this, many issues arise on whether or not the new digital age is a private place. Some believe that privacy, like the old technologies people used only a few years ago, is obsolete. 

The main factors in determining whether or not the public can remain safe and private in the new digital age mainly focuses on the battles of media ethics, and media legality. The world today is a place where global news is only a few mouse clicks away. Journalists are under more and more pressure to gain first insight into a story, which causes some of the make decisions that may not be morally acceptable, such as wearing a concealed wire, or camera. 

Federal Laws are easier to get around than one might think

Federal Law prohibits the media, or any individual, from intentionally interpreting, or attempting to interpret, an individual's communication, whether it be orally or electronically. With this in mind, many people would go about their day without giving privacy a second thought. In reality, there could be a serious threat to their security. 

For instance, there are loopholes in some government laws that can be found. For example, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) establishes criminal punishment for interception of electronic communication. However, consent can be implied to any reading of electronic communications by accepting employment with an organization that practices surveillance against its employees. Many employees accept this term of agreement every day without even knowing what they have said yes to. Whether or not these loopholes are legal or not, it is still a debate of ethical conduct. 

Ethical Battles are just as frightening as defying Federal Law

In addition to the uncertainty about privacy law, privacy ethics are another reason why privacy in the modern digital age is an intangible feat. Intercepting phone calls is not an illegal act, if there is grounds to do so. As for long-distance phone calls, a reason for tapping phone calls is not needed as long as the company says they are doing it before the phone call begins. 

With this in mind, it becomes increasingly frightening to think about how easy it might be for someone to access the things you say or write. For many people, this fear was realized in April of this year when Facebook had a massive privacy scandal. Many people consider social medias like Facebook to be very private means of communicating. People see social media the same way they see a public restaurant or bar. It is a public place, where people can interact, in a social gathering. However, what makes online medias so different, is that the things you say online, can stay with you forever. In many cases, what you say on the world-wide web, is there forever, for the world to see. 

False Sense of Security

For most people, they don’t see this as a problem. Privacy settings give people the false sense of security that everything on their profile is private. Facebook made the tragic mistake of tampering with this false sense of security. In April, Facebook changed the privacy settings on every user’s account so that the default was to make almost nothing private. Personal information like birthday, home address, phone number, friends, family, affiliations etc. were all able to be seen by any average person. 

Facebook is a website millions of people trust everyday with their information. People think it is a secure place to talk and engage in conversation, which is why this scandal is particularly chilling because it establishes physical evidence that shows how unprotected your private life really is. Although this may have not been a legal problem, it was a severe cloud of ethical judgement on Facebook’s behalf. 

In conclusion, the digital era of media has made it increasingly difficult to remain private in a very public age. Many of the privacy beliefs people take for granted can easily be overturned by an individual who lacks a strict moral code. There should be more restrictions on access to personal information, and the punishments for violating such protocols should be more strict because clearly companies like Facebook are not worried about the repercussions of making everyones private information a public matter. People should be conscious about what the say, and where they say it, because you never really know who is listening, and watching what you say and type.