Privacy, Or Not

Legal Reading © Stephen M. Maple 2022

• Old Tech. IBM Selectric is a typewriter, a useful instrument of by-gone days. I am typing this on a Dell computer, which is very forgiving of my mistakes. I don't have to white-out, then type over with my corrections - I just back space and begin again. And my software alerts me to spelling and grammatical errors. Marvelous technology.
  
  This article stops before going too far down memory lane to remind us that technology carries risks and consequences that may remain forever.
  
  Tweeting and texting aren't words in any dictionary published over ten years ago.
  
  Sexting is of even more recent vintage. Facebook and its social equivalents are commonly used by young and old. E-mail seems to have been around forever. And CD/DVD burners have turned out copies for the enjoyment of countless miscreants who didn't pay for them.
• New Tech Risks. Let's start with the social networking. We can "communicate" instantaneously with about anyone. What we communicate can cause us very real problems. The spoken word readily vanishes, but the texted word can be sent over again and remain in thousands of devices. Pictures can be shared by friends and enemies alike.
  
  Mother used to tell us, "if you can't say something good about somebody, don't say anything." She was right. The text sent can't be taken back for a do-over. If the sender regales the first of many recipients with his drunken exploits or her venomous lies or their near nakedness, then there are legal (and moral) consequences.
• Employee Miscues. Prospective and current employers now search these social networks and what they find may result in dire consequences for the employee. No law is violated when an employer refuses to hire or fires for that revealing comment or photo. Lies that defame (intentionally injure someone's reputation) can become a lawsuit for libel.
  
  Human predators who exploit the young often brag about their "conquests" or text explicit messages to their victims. This evidence is used to convict these criminals.
• Privacy? Privacy is no longer so private. What we do in public – now broadly defined as any where a cellphone camera is- can be, and often is, shared with many others. The coach who invites the team over to party hearty with alcohol for minors should expect to have a copy of the festivities on the school principal's desk the next morning. The illicit sex in a motel room can be captured on a cellphone camera pointed through a keyhole in the door.
• Sharing and Caring. Sharing personal information can end up badly. Most of us are bombarded with emails wanting our bank account or social security number, the name of our spouse's mother, or computer password. We usually are alert to these forms of identity theft. Other "thieves" are less obvious. Many times when we visit a web site to browse or shop, there is imbedded software that can capture a good deal of our shopping habits.
• Corporations Know You. The discount card we use does save us money (perhaps), but it also records our purchases so the company could better tailor its advertising to its customer. What the IRS has stored in its computers about us is tiny compared to what Walmart has.
  
  Simply put, the law affords too little protection for our privacy. Remember that what we do and say can live far longer than our mortal bodies.