The Supreme Court recently handed down a decision with regards to the case of two high school students from St. Theresa's College Cebu who were barred from attending the school's graduation rites last 2012. The school made the decision after Facebook photos of the two students showed them in bikinis, drinking, and smoking. These are apparently violations of the school's rules regarding social media behavior and cyber-responsibility, which are all included in the student handbook.
The students claim that their right to privacy was violated by the school. Since their Facebook settings were on "Friends Only", it was supposed to be shared to those the uploader considered her friends. But the photos were shown by a student friend to one of the teachers, who then brought up the issue to her superiors resulting in the decision to bar them from the graduation rites as punishment.
According to the Supreme Court decision, "Information, otherwise private, voluntarily surrendered by them can be opened, read, or copied by third parties who may or may not be allowed access to such." The court obviously noted that the setting "Friends Only" was not absolutely private since anyone could tag the photo and share it with anyone, which is exactly what happened here. I think what the students should have done was confront the friend who showed the photo to the teacher. But really, if there is something absolutely private, why tell several people about it?
Anything uploaded on the internet has become fair game to everyone, especially to those with less than honorable intentions. How many times have we heard of sensitive photos and videos that were taken from the internet, and then plastered for everyone to see. We have all heard of the nude photos, the sex videos of celebrities and private individuals. And when they hit the net, they cry all the way to the heavens claiming their privacy has been violated. I say, if some things are absolutely private, then don't upload them anywhere. In fact, don't even take a photo or video about it, especially on something electronic like a computer, laptop, or even a cellphone. Technology is just as good in making life easier to making it miserable. And experts on this technology operate on both sides of the law. Something written on paper will still be a lot harder to steal than something on a digital file.
The Supreme Court decision does raise some concern on what exactly is private or not. It may seem that nothing is private, once it is uploaded on the net. I actually believed that a long time ago, which is why I'm not really into the whole social networking thing that seems to preoccupy everyone nowadays. I may be one of those who do not have to let the whole world know what is going on in my life, every second of the day. The possibility of somebody with nefarious intentions using the very photos or whatever information about myself is just too great for me. I'm careful about what I upload. I'm responsible for my own safety. I guess these famous persons feel the same way. You would think that a celebrity, a Hollywood one at that, would embrace the whole idea of their fans knowing so much about them when in fact, they shun social media altogether. Who are some of them? Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Bardley Cooper, Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Craig (wow!), Emma Thompson, Jennifer Lawrence, and George Clooney. All of them go to great lengths to protect what is important to them.
Privacy.