Magdalena Hodurek

Probst
Comp. English 1101
05/09/2016
Privacy
Joe Jeffrey who grew up in a rural town, as a farmer has been lonely for years. He
decided to make a profile and meet someone through Farmers Unite, an online dating site strictly
for farmers. Its designed to help meet other lonely farmers who are going through the same thing
as Joe. Once Joe created a profile for himself he was so eager to use it that he skipped through
the Terms and Conditions page assuming that most of the information he shared with Farmers
Unite would keep it private unless told otherwise. That's where Joe went wrong. In the terms
Farmers Unite specified that a third party may have access to the information that Joe has posted.
As time went by Joe received at match, and began talking and even tried setting up a date. But
before they could go on that date, Cecelia wanted to do a background check on Joe so she
Googled him. She found a picture that Joe only provided for Farmers Unite, and the picture was
him as a janitor. Since it wasn't Joe somebody must of stole Joes identity from Farmers Unite.
Joe was mostly upset at the fact that he never shared that photo with anyone and took it
especially for the profile and on top of that he'll never get a chance to go on a date with Cecilia.
So now Joe wants to sue Farmers Unite but the question is, will he win?
If Joes decides he wants to sue Farmers Unite for invading his privacy and leaking a lot
of his personal information and photos out into the web he's going to have to bring his A game.

First off he's at fault simply because he did not read the terms and condition section before
completing his profile. That fine print indicated that his information might get out because of the
third party included in the agreement. That was a contract that he was agreeing too and they did
not violate or break any rules. Someone however must of seen Joes picture and has been cat
fishing people with his identity. Which would be understandable as to why you would want to
sue someone on infringing on your privacy. The internet is so popular that 90% of college
students have their own page on the internet. Facebook is one of the most popular social media
tool, where everyone spills all their secrets and post their whole lives on there. Like Solove said,
people in the past that would save photos and create albums with memories and trade secrets
between one another it wouldn't leave your circle of friends. Instead when the new generation
post celebrations or whatever it may be it will be displayed for anyone to view and comment on
globally. This new generation of people will have their lives posted and saved on the internet
forever. People might assume that it's wrong what happened with Joe or anyone in that situation
but it doesn't mean that its illegal. He should have taken his time and read through everything
first before agreeing to the terms. The internet is crazy and can get a hold of many different files.
An example of how the government spy's on America is by using satellites. The NSA satellites
that orbit our planet. Since they've been placed in our orbit, the government has been slowly
monitoring and surveillancing us. On top of that it couldn't be any easier for the government to
collect data on us. The internet is so popular and we are slowly getting more and more
technologically advance that its easier for more and more people to find out where you live, what
age you are, where you go to school or work. It's up to yourself how much you share with the
internet and what kind of pictures people might be using as they create a new identity with one of
your photos.

In America everyone expects privacy and the government is not allowed to take that away
since it was written in our constitution. "The Constitution, through the Fourth Amendment,
protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. The Fourth
Amendment, however, is not a guarantee against all searches and seizures, but only those that are
deemed unreasonable under the law" (USCourts). The US Courts is stating that, "not a guarantee
against all searches and seizures" in other words we do not have 100% control over our privacy.
As Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems once famously declared: You already have zero
privacy. Get over it. We live in a world where information is posted and spread so easily.
Thinking that this might be the one thing to make you famous but not knowing if they love you
or hate you. Assuming from knowing are to completely different things and most people don't
knowledge themselves about. Things that are important like knowing your basic human rights we
instead memorized everything there is to know about the Kardasians. Important values and skills
we should know but instead we're assuming and thinking that the government it not tapping into
any of my information or privacy because we've been told they don't do it, so we believe it. The
only way to ensure and keep our privacy is by protecting it and that requires us to total secrecy. "
once information is revealed to others, it is no longer private" (Solove). It's at your own risk what
you would want to leak out into the world but when it's too late don't think you could blame this
on the internet because you're the one uploading or writing this posts and nobody is forcing you
to do otherwise. Also if you're worried that someone might steal your identity or be tracking you
don't release any of it. You're the only one putting yourself at risk so next time if you're worried,
read through and make sure the website will not leak any of your information without your
permission, simply because it's not illegal if they state it.

Overall Joe felt that his privacy was being invaded so he's deciding whether to sue
Farmers Unite for releasing his information that he posted privately (so he thought) on the
internet. Since Farmers unite allowed that information out there without his permission, Joe
would be hoping that a judge or whomever would side with him but with a little bit of evidence
and knowing that Joe didn't read through the terms and conditions left him vulnerable to the web.
If he were to sue just with that information given at hand I would not see Joe winning the case.
Privacy in the twenty first century could be a tricky thing. If you would like a facebook, snapchat
or instagram profile, I wouldn't show your address or be sending quick 10 second snaps to your
friends because snapchats database saves everything you have written and sent. I'd start reading
the small print and making sure Google doesn't have fake posts about me that might ruin my
future or any type of relationship.

Work Cited
Solove, Daniel J. "Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy?"Scientific American. N.p., 01
Sept. 2008. Web. 09 May 2016.
Solove, Daniel J. "Friends: Social Networking Sites for Engaged Library Services." : Do Social
Networks Bring the End of Privacy? N.p., 25 Aug. 2008. Web. 09 May 2016.
"What Does the Fourth Amendment Mean?" United States Courts. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May
2016.