Managing Our Media: Snapchat and Privacy
A few weeks ago, an article in the New York Times revealed that Snapchat is not really what it claims to be; the world-renowned app is pretty much built on a lie. When Snapchat first came out, it promised people a medium unlike any other: people could now send any photo or video to friends and have it self-destruct, never to be seen again. Of course, people loved this idea, making it one of the most popular apps in the store. The app gave people a chance to keep certain things away from nosy parents, school administrators and even potential employers.
However, the pictures and videos we send don’t necessarily disappear. The way the app works, someone can take a screenshot and save the picture. Normally the app notifies the sender when someone takes a screenshot, but nowadays there are many hacks that allow people to save photos or videos without the sender knowing. When using social media, there are two things people should remember: Nothing is private, and anything you do on social media can last forever.
Before we even start using Snapchat, or any other social media outlets, do we really take the time to read about what we are getting into? Social media often portrays itself as harmless and beneficial, but when you share something with an app or a website, there is a risk that it will become public. When you post something online, you immediately give up the control of where that image or video goes.
In addition to this, when we're online, there is no such thing as real anonymity. When your device connects to the Internet it associates 100 percent of your activity with your personal device. Just like a fingerprint, every device has a unique identifier. Because you bought it and registered it, everything points at you. Everything you do is associated with that device. Even if you delete something or use a proxy server, it is still going to be associated to your device.
The problem with Snapchat and some other social media devices is that they make us think our accounts are completely anonymous by using pseudonyms instead of our real names. There is no way a picture posted by an Internet character name John Bucky could trace back to someone called Bridget Jones, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, the Internet does not work the way we believe it to. These social media websites, like Snapchat, know who we are, and where we are and they store this information because we agreed to something without really reading before pressing the "I accept" button. Even though their marketing strategy makes us believe that what we do is private, their terms and conditions allow them to store data, sell it if they want to and even keep it permanently.
Then, somehow, an image we thought was private, ends up on a Google search of our name. We often hear about how people lose the opportunity to go to the college of their choice or work their dream job because their employers or an admissions officer found something suspicious about them on the Internet.
So, we must all be careful and realize what we are getting into before agreeing to terms and conditions, and always be careful of what we do on the Internet. Otherwise, our actions online could have serious consequences for our futures.