Danny Drabes

English 1101

Essay 3

The End of Privacy,

or The End of Common Sense?

According to the International Telecommunication Union, 48% of the worlds population

uses the internet. With roughly 3.2 billion annual users, one can assume most people trust their

information to be protected on the internet. But do we actually have adequate privacy protection?

According to his article The End of Privacy?, Daniel J. Solove believes we do not. While this

article is clearly geared towards teenagers/ young adults, it also is for people of any age who use

the internet for a wide array of reasons. Solove relies solely on argumentative devices to either

maintain the reader's prior beliefs that internet privacy is dead, or change the mind of those who

disagree with this statement.

Daniel J. Solove is the John Marshall Harlan Research Professor of Law at the George

Washington University Law School, and is one of the worlds leading experts in privacy law.

Needless to say, Solove is well qualified to challenge the status of online security in this article.

He relies heavily on his expertise, which gives off the impression Solove was trying to obtain

trust in the reader right off the bat. One can argue that the strategy of using your own expertise
instead of others can give a biased tone to an article, which can easily alienate the audience.

However, his use of his own knowledge seemed informative and warranted. The best example in

this article where Solove uses his understanding of privacy laws is the final segment of the article

titled Changing the Law. In this segment Solove makes solid suggestions on what the

American Judicial System could do to protect our privacy. One suggestion that stood out dealt

with the risk of damaging ones reputation online with pictures of said user in embarrassing or

inappropriate/ unprofessional situations/ poses. Solove remarked, A name or likeness

Angelina Jolies face, for examplecannot be used for financial benefit in an advertisement

without consent. To deal with online abuses, this common law tort could be expanded to protect

against the posting of photographs online without consent. (Daniel J. Solove-Scientific

American 104). This argument has the ability to resonate with the reader because most people

want to look their best online, whether that has to do with their looks or reputation. The idea of a

law that can protect peoples face from being in pictures they dont want to be in, is a comforting

thought.

Solove makes a lot of arguments about the logic (or the lack thereof) of posting personal

information online. He talks about a website where people post about their sex life, or their drug

uses/ drunkenness in college called JuicyCampus. His argument consists of the idea that gossip

spreads. Anything one posts on a public forum can be seen by other users, and making suggestive

things about yourself known to others more than likely will cause repercussions down the line.

Its easy to see Solove's underlining message of, half the reason people dont truly have privacy

online is because they lack the common sense to keep somethings private. Which is a good

argument. If someone is going to post on a public forum styled website about illegal activities
they do on a private college campus, odds are word will spread and said person will run the risk

of getting kicked out of that school. Solove also discusses a website called DontDateHimGirl, a

forum in which woman post about men theyve dated using real names and pictures of their exs.

This kind of post can ruin the reputation of people, and can be considered harassment, which is

sometimes punishable by law. Yet another repercussion of doing something online you shouldnt

be doing.

Daniel J. Solove also brings up the star of one of the first ever viral videos, titled The

Star Wars Kid. He talks about how most people know of him, but not by name. Instead most

know him as, simply, The Star Wars Kid. This video was uploaded without the 15 year olds

permission by his bullies from school in 2002. Multiple versions of this video all have the same

mocking type comments on them, taunting the teen, making fun of his weight and interests. This

video has lived on this whole time as a cultural icon, spawning parodies on hit tv shows like

Family Guy and South Park. After being taunted by the whole world, including classmates,

the teenager dropped out of highschool and sought after counseling. Solove then states that what

happened the The Star Wars Kid can happen to anyone in this day and age. The use of this

story was clearly intended to grab the emotional attention of the audience, and it does so in an

efficient manner. It makes the audience put themselves in the shoes of a victim of a privacy-less

internet.

Three Questions to Ask Yourself

 1. Do you believe that privacy can exist on the internet if you use common sense?

Why or why not?

2. Do you feel different about what personal information you feel comfortable with

sharing on the internet? If yes, how so?

3. If you could write a law that protected internet users privacy, what would you

include?