Ah, the glorious world of social networking sites (SNSs) where my photos are always artsy, my family is always happy, and all the people I know are my friends who truly care about what is going on in my life. Right?! Following the thoughts of the mental chasm between real life and online world, SNSs allow people to connect, offering a filtered and limited amount of information to others. Such sites encourage “connectedness”, even if it fosters superficial relations between people who depict themselves as a very partial fragment of who they really are.
It would be hard to defend, from a deontological perspective, the idea that SNSs are wrong in and of themselves. Such sites are simply a virtual setting for socializing. The interactions and conversations that take place, however, can be seen as absolute negatives under certain viewpoints.
image source: http://faqsocial.org/
I will not expand on the topic of companies examining applicants since I have already discussed it in a previous post. It should be noted, though, that it is a major ethical concern in the use of SNSs.
Focusing on the misleading overexposure a person may submit themselves to when they use Facebook, a utilitarian analysis would contrast the costs of unwanted attention, permanence of regretful decisions, and effect on real life relations against the benefits of connectedness, entertainment, and the possible confidence boost obtained from online reaction (don’t we all feel special when we have 18 “likes” under a status update?). However, a deontological approach may take two positions here. As far as freedom of expression is a value to be upheld, SNSs provide a person with a setting to speak up relatively free, and for that reason a person should make use of such possibility as they please. On the other hand, highlighting respect and privacy, a user would be advised by a deontological ethicists to carefully craft their online interactions as a direct expression of themselves that is given to others to use at their discretion. And, at the same time, each user should understand that the information they receive from others must be handled with the same level of care they wish others devoted to their information. In a tangible example, I should not go stalking others, or sharing my friend’s photo if I did not like them doing the same with my photos.
So here’s a more specific question: is it ethical for you to upload pictures you have taken of other people to a SNS, and to tag those individuals? Should you make those pictures publicly available, or restrict them to certain audiences? Do you have an ethical obligation to the other people in the photos?
Yes, I believe that there is an inherent duty of respect for people that may appear on my photos. On a not-so-serious level, I think it is annoying for people to tag somebody who is not in the photo. I find myself regularly untagging myself from images that are used as a sale pitch, a seasonal greeting, or an attempt at organizing your friends’ birthday. The only exception is when people tag my children for me to see the photo.
But, situations much more complicated, or burdensome may arise from some one sharing information about somebody else in the form of images. Many of such situations may be caused inadvertently, and I assume I have a certain level of permission to tag the people that have chosen to befriend me on Facebook (all of whom I know personally). However, there is a balance between the permission and the responsibility. If I am aware that posting/tagging my friend in a compromising/bad/private photo will cause them some type of harm, even if it is slight embarrassment, I should not do so, or consult with them beforehand.
Do you feel that downloading/sharing photos found on SNSs falls under the same deontological mandate (respect)? For example:
A and B are family members, and are friends on Facebook. A has a picture of her child uploaded to Facebook, and restricted to only people she has friended on the site. B re-posts the picture of A’s child to *her* Facebook page, and makes it accessible to people who are not A’s Facebook friend, including other relatives A has chosen not to share pictures with. Does B have an ethical problem in this scenario?
Like I feel I find myself saying all the time, it varies according to the situation and ethics resides much in the intention of the person acting. If B did not mean any harm, then there is no breech of respect. If A had made it clear, or at least apparent that such photo was not to share, then that is another situation where sharing would become unethical.
I can imagine the exact situation you describe happening as mi mother in law (MIL) is friends with people in my extended family I am not friends with. However, if there is something I wish to keep so private, I should not allow others to find it, download it, or copy it. In other words, I should not post it and I could easily email it to her stating it is for her to see. Which I have done before with photos of my children I do not wish to share with others.