Social Networking

Recently I read a really interesting article on social networking and ethics. The article, based on a longer version of a journal article, discussed the hidden issues of privacy and the "ethical responsibility of Social Networking Site(s)."

It was really interesting because it posed the the dilemma of the moral obligation to protect individual's privacy. The reason privacy is such a focus is because of cyberstalking and identify theft.

The two questions they posed were:

Is it the responsibility of social networking sites, like facebook, to protect privacy? or

Is it the responsibility of the social networking user to protect their own privacy?

This could appear to be an ethical dilemma.

The social networking site may need to provide the proper privacy settings along with an ease to apply those settings, while users need to realize the importance to privacy and protecting themselves.

Personally I believe ethical issues like this are going to grow as the world becomes more technologically advanced, and more people use online social networks. A realization that may conclude with many different answers being sought. Perhaps a combination of both the social networking sites and its users will need to be made more aware of privacy issues to help find a definite answer to these questions.