I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy
With 750 million members, Facebook has the “power and reach of a nation,” the third largest in the world. Andrews, legal scholar and expert on social media, examines the concept of social network as a nation in need of a constitution that protects the rights of its citizens. Law-enforcement agencies and repressive regimes alike are using information from Facebook pages to go after perceived wrongdoers. Similarly, school administrators and employers search Facebook for information. With the blurring of lines between government and social networks, Facebook and other social media are used to publicize what used to be private information on citizens that they have willingly or inadvertently made public. Andrews explores growing talk of a social-network constitution, not to establish hard-and-fast rules but to offer a firm expression of fundamental values to foster development of technology that protects privacy. She includes a proposed constitution that ensures the right to connect, to free speech and expression, and to privacy of place and information. A fascinating look at social media and a valuable resource for Internet users to protect personal data. --Vanessa Bush