I attended an event held by Santa Clara University today where Lori Andrews discussed the idea of a Social Network Constitution in which Lori asks the question to every social network user out there, ‘how can you protect the privacy of your digital self?’ Lori Andrews  is a distinguished professor of law at IIT Chicago-Kent; director of IIT’s Institute for Science, Law and Technology; an associate vice president of IIT. and  a well-known author of 10 non-fiction books, and an author of more than 150 articles.  Of those novels, is  I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did:  Social Networks and the Death of Privacy. Within this book shows how people can fight back when what they post on social networks is used against them.  She also ignites a battle for further protections, from a right to connect to a right to privacy, and proposes a Social Network Constitution to protect us all. Below are the ten rights Lori places on the Social Network:

1.   The Right to Connect.

2.   The Right to Free Speech and Freedom of Expression.

3.   The Right to Privacy of Place and Information.

4.   The Right to Privacy of Thoughts, Emotions and Sentiments.

5.   The Right to Control One’s Image.

6.   The Right to Fair Trial.

7.   The Right to an Untainted Jury.

8.   The Right to Due Process of Law and the Right to Notice.

9.   Freedom from Discrimination.

10.   Freedom of Association.

Within Lori’s contribution to the problems that arise on facebook, she brought up some pretty interesting facts. Facebook is the third largest nation in the world in terms of sheer size. Google knows what you look like, what your personal appointments are, who you are, etc. There are even claims that facebook is analyzing your phone texts. What is now being questioned is the amount of information sites like facebook is using for “research,” Privacy is this fundamental value in society and the social networking sites as well as most of the internet sites (search engines, food services, etc.) where you provide some information to find out more information end up ultimately keep “track” of your activity and from there can utilize that information of yours to their advantage.

I think that now we need to be even more careful on social networking sites because there is this eery feeling that whatever you do place up there, you can never take it back. It’s a permanent, living source in which, if it’s the right person, anyone can access. Lori has a point that the internet (meaning all of the source providers, engines, etc.) should work towards certain principles to protecting people’s information.