A "Digital Scarlet Letter" Hat-trick
Remember the plight of Nathanial Hawthorne's fictional Hester Prynne? She was condemned to wear a red "A" for adultery as a shameful reminder of her past sin. George Washington University Law Professor and internationally known privacy expert Daniel J. Solove has written that:
"The Internet is bringing back the scarlet letter in digital form -- an
indelible record of people's misdeeds... We must protect privacy to
` ensure that the freedom of the Internet doesn't make us less free."
(The Future of Reputation, p.11)
Chances are you remember reading about the young South Korean girl riding on the subway with her little dog. The dog did what dogs do, and things got ugly when she refused to clean up after him. Indignant fellow passengers posted pictures of the "incident" on a popular South Korean blog, and the girl was soon identified, parodied and ridiculed in media around the world.
How many of us have seen the numerous "humorously" doctored videos of the repeatedly-humiliated high schooler dirisively called "Star Wars Boy" on You-Tube?
And hasn't everyone heard horror stories of pictures and descriptions of long-ago youthful indiscretions surfacing via a Google search when the transgressor applies for a job or professional license?
Today anyone can post anything about themselves or others, good or bad, true or untrue via blogs, e-mail, social networking Websites, and photo and video sharing Websites that invite any and all submissions. Where does my need to express myself end, and your right to privacy begin? Now that I have the potential for a worldwide audience, should I still have the freedom to share information that may prove to be of perpetual humiliation to others? To again quote Professor Solove:
"What makes the issues so complex is that there are important values on both
sides. Protecting people's privacy sometimes can be achieved only by
curtailing free speech...The difficulty is that we often want both...There is
no clear winner in the battle between privacy and free speech. Both are
essential to our freedom." (The Future of Reputation, p.12)
The College of Law Research Center has three of Daniel Solove's books on privacy --
- The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (Yale Univ. Press, 2007)
- The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age (NYU Press, 2004)
- Information Privacy Law (Aspen Publishers, 2006)
Check them out to read what Solove has to say about establishing a balance between privacy and free speech. You can also read Professor Solove's musings on "The Law, the Universe, and Everything " on his blog "Concurring Opinions."
Posted by Patricia Bingham-Harper
