Aside: Time to Socialize Social Media

            This article raised a very interesting point concerning the right citizens have in regards to their freedom of speech in the realm of social media.  It suggested that citizens personal communication online would be more protected if the government was the provider of social media.  The argument was that our rights online would be protected like they are with the postal service.  I had never really thought of it in that way but it doesn’t make sense that the government can easily access our digital conversations while it is much more difficult for them to read our mail spent through the postal system.  Seeing as there is no difference besides the medium of communication the protection should be the same.  I think since communication via the Internet and social media is a relatively new concept, there are no laws in place yet to protect citizens speech and privacy in these spaces.  How can we assume that if the government begins running our electronic communication it will be protected under the same rights as our mail that is sent through the post office?

            I think the solution besides making it a public service run by the government is there needs to be more competition in the private sector for electronic communication and social media websites. This will allow consumers who are not satisfied with one site, to switch to an alternative.  The problem is that social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, have a monopoly over the social media industry.  Many users are unhappy with changes that are made or how these companies use and distribute our personal information but there is no other option available so users just have to accept that way things are or not participate in the system at all.   

I think the possibility of either of these solutions taking place to protect our privacy rights is very unlikely.  I do not think the government will every take control of the social media sector, especially if they benefit from the setup and legislation of the current situation.  I also don’t think there will ever be competition among the social media networks enough so that consumers have a choice of which network to participate in or not without opting out of the entire social media system.  A think a major benefit of a social media network is that a large number of the people you know and associate with are all using the same network.  So if people were given choices of which network or sites to be a part of, people would have different preferences, resulting in the use of different sites which defeats the purpose social media was created for in the first place.  I think it will be interesting to see what changes will be made in the future to protect the privacy of citizens in the digital realm.