Digital Era

Probably no one has expected an investigation of Ms.Kelly's email account would result in the resignation of the C.I.A director. This is another typical lesson about how private information can be leaked in an information era. Internet seems to be good at preserving information for a long time, even if you mean to discard it. When people search information they may come across some surprises, just as what the F.B.I found out this time.

Actually email is far from the biggest trouble, at least normal people won't have access to your email account and your correspondence should be relatively safe, unless the Big Brother keeps an eye on you and the email service provider spinelessly concede; or like in this case, they get your permission to check emails. Private information can be collected in a much easier way. Social media and smartphones make it much easier for people to share their thoughts, status and locations in the public as long as there is wifi or 3G/4G. People always like to talk about themselves, therefore it's not surprising to see how much information can be collected from one's facebook and twitter account. And to gather this information, you don't need any search warrant or permission, Googling is enough. I have some Facebook friends that I've never met, but I do feel like knowing them for a long time - I know their families, friends, hobbies, education background, work, and even weekend plans even though I never intentionally do the research, all the information just appears automatically on my Facebook timeline. When we meet in reality, we talk like old friends.

It's nice to start a conversation with a real life stranger who happens to be a Facebook friend by avoiding unpleasant topics based on what you learned from his/her Facebook, but problems are created in the same place. We're happy to share information within certain groups, but may not want to be heard by outsiders. There was a kidnapping in China months ago when the criminal collected information about the kid from his mother's Weibo account, an figured out the best timing and place to take him away. Another case reported by a Weibo user also showed that traditional phone fraud also improved its performance by providing more detailed information of children when swindling their parents: he planned a trip to Japan with his girlfriend, and was very excited to share his plan on his Weibo. During his trip in Japan, of course he turned his Chinese cellphone off, and his parents and friends in China were not able to reach him. That was when frauds called his parents, saying he got in trouble and needed money to come back. Luckily his parents didn't buy the story and freed themselves from monetary loss, but they still suffered a lot from anxiety. Private information can induce great damage if it's obtained in the wrong hands.

There is a grey area between private lives and public ones, where the private information can be shared with the public but does not have to. In a digital era, there are tons of tools to fill up the grey area. You may not want to mention pillow talks on Facebook, but you probably will upload a weekend hiking photo there, and you never know how those browsing your Facebook will find out about you as fragmented information like this build up. We can't blame the tools for being too convenient to leak private information, as it's us who decide the line for disclosure. At Princeton, we were warned to take off all the "improper" photos and comments on Facebook by the career adviser who strongly believe interviewers will check candidates' profiles before talking to them. I guess that's Ann was trying to tell us: no one is perfect, so don't be so eager to show people everything.

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