The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

  • Who we are
    • Our Values
    • Our Team
    • Our Clients
      • Client Success Stories
      • Member Advisory Board
    • Community Leadership Awards
      • Community Leadership Awards 2021
      • TheCR Awards 2020
      • TheCR Awards 2019
      • TheCR Awards 2018
      • TheCR Awards 2017
    • Careers
  • What we do
    • Benchmarking and Audits
      • Community Performance Benchmark
      • Community Readiness Audits
      • Community ROI Calculator
      • The Community Score
    • Models and Frameworks
      • Community Maturity Model™
      • Community Engagement Framework™
      • Community Skills Framework™
      • The Social Executive
    • Research
      • The State of Community Management
        • SOCM 2022
        • SOCM 2021
        • SOCM 2020
      • Community Careers and Compensation
      • The Community Manager Handbook
        • 2022 Edition
        • 2015 Edition
      • The Social Executive
      • Special Reports
    • Training and Events
      • Upcoming Events
      • TheCR Connect
        • TheCR Connect 2022
        • TheCR Connect 2021
      • Customer Community Summit
        • Tech Thursdays 2021
        • Community Solutions Showcase
      • Training
      • Resource Bundles
    • Resources
      • Vendor Resource Center
      • Community FAQs
      • Community Management Podcasts
        • Community Conversations
        • Lessons From The NEW Community Manager Handbook
      • Community Management Jobs
        • Job Board
        • CMGR Profiles
      • Community 101
        • Community Management Glossary
        • Community Management FAQs
      • Case Studies
      • Community Webinars
  • Who we serve
    • Resources for Community Managers
    • Community Program Owners
    • Community Executives
  • TheCR Network
    • Member Login
    • Join TheCR Network
    • Roundtable Call Library
  • TheCR Library
    • Subscriber Login
    • Subscribe to TheCR Library

Privacy, Free Speech, and ‘Blurry-Edged’ Social Networks

October 24, 2016 By Amy Turner

By Amy Turner, The Community Roundtable

Screen Shot 2016-07-08 at 8.40.35 AMThe right to privacy online is not so clear-cut when debated with the right to free speech. There is much more citizen journalism happening, but laws have been created with traditional publishing institutions in mind. These laws favor the right to free speech, which puts the right to privacy in an uncertain balance. TheCR Network had a sobering discussion about this with Lauren Gelman, Principal & Founder at BlurryEdge Strategies.

The center of the debate is privacy vs. free speech. At its very basic level, an individual’s right to protect his/her privacy interferes with another individual’s right to talk about another person. For example, any right an individual has to stop another individual from publishing a picture that had the first individual in it also stops the second individual from expressing him/herself through that picture. The same holds true in a blog scenario that publishes information about another person. To not publish for privacy reasons infringes on the bloggers right to free speech. The result is a strong tension in the advocacy community about how to balance these interests because the same people who are working on these issues are the chief advocates for both of these conflicting sides.


Below are three best practices that emerged from our discussion with Lauren:

TheCR Network Guest Expert: Lauren Gelman

TheCR Network Guest Expert: Lauren Gelman

Recognize that all Actions are Public 

People do not realize that they are publishing to the world. Perhaps it is because they do not see faces and eyes staring back at them. It gives them a false feeling of anonymity that allows their guard to be lowered. Lauren believes that social network technology tools are designed to keep us ignorant and are designed to incent us to over-share our private information without understanding the full ramifications. These tools benefit from the fact that people do not understand the extent of their audience. The more you tell Facebook about yourself, the more you can get in touch with people who match your criteria. The more you tell LinkedIn, the more accurate their suggested contacts will be. So, all of these platforms are built in a way to incent you to disclose more. The problem is, however, that the law does not see it that way. Always be aware that everybody and anybody can see what it is that you are publishing.


Tagging Content 

Lauren suggests a tagging regime. In this way, people would be able to tag their published content with certain privacy expectations, such as: “Please do not archive this or cut and paste or publish it in another forum.” The idea behind this is to express a level of privacy sensitivity. That is one of the reasons that the law is so hard-lined in this space. In the real world it is very hard to understand an individual’s privacy sensitivity about something being repeated. So, the same would then hold true for the Internet. The law basically uses what is termed an “objective test.” It assumes that everybody’s privacy sensitivity is the same in that if you tell somebody, you do not have an expectation of privacy. This way, everybody in the world knows what to expect of the law. However, if you are able to tag your Internet content with your privacy sensitivity, then the law has something to work with in order to try and protect people.

Establish a Complaint Mechanism 

Currently, there is a “notice and take down regime” under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This has established a means for individuals to contact companies if they think their copyright is being violated. Perhaps a similar institution could be established for privacy concerns.

How do you balance the right to free speech and the right to privacy across social media and communities?  

To hear more from Lauren Gelman, connect with her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

 

About Amy Turner

comments powered by Disqus
Community best practices

Resources for the people who build online communities.

ABOUT US
Our Values
Our Team
Our Clients
Careers

RESOURCES
Vendor Resource Center
Podcasts 
Job Board
Community 101
Case Studies
Webinars
Upcoming Events

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Benchmarking and Audits
Models and Frameworks
Research
Training and Events

RESOURCES BY AUDIENCE
Community Managers
Community Program Owners
Community Executives

QUICK LINKS
Blog
Newsletter
About TheCR Network
About TheCR Library
About TheCR Academy

LOGIN
TheCR Network
TheCR Library
TheCR Academy

Contact
Support
Partnership
Inquiries
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter