Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
13.3.2
Interpretation to Information
The second reason why the user loses complete control of their digital identity or
information concerning him or her on an SNS site is related to interpretation or
context-sharing problems. The meaning of information depends on the context, but
it is difficult to interpret information in the original context by others completely,
even if the information sender and receiver have developed a close relationship. In
particular, when certain personal information is coupled with other information or
just partially referred to, meaning which is different from the original context may
be ascribed to the original information by other users. It has been argued that such a
distortion of information could be amplified, particularly when information
processing is repeated (Murata
2004
).
For example, if one user (hereafter referred to as C) misunderstood the meaning
of blog articles posted by his/her friend (hereafter referred to as D) and got angry
with D, C may write something derogatory about D on the SNS. In that case, even
though it was only a misunderstanding that made C post such comments, the
information is stored and disclosed on the website. Under such circumstances,
like a celebrity, if our message, connected with our real name, is misunderstood
by other users, whose responsibility would it be? This is an example of the
accompanying risk when we disclose information on the Internet.
The users' list of friends also becomes the subject of the interpretation. Even if
the users were to accept the self-responsibility principle and restrict the access to
their page, it is difficult to take responsibility for other users' interpretation on
digitalized information the original user transmits. Additionally, the interpretations
of information concerning a user's activity could be ever-changing. It's not always
true that information which is revealed at a certain point will be interpreted in the
same context in future situations. Nobody can understand how a context could be
change in the future. There is no certainty that what may be considered harmless
information at present may impact negatively in the future.
13.3.3 Architectural Control
The third factor is related to architectural control. As referred to earlier, SNS could
be considered as a dataveillance system which collects and utilizes certain aspects
of the information that a user provides; for example, to make appropriate
suggestions or recommendations for other users. When we consider this, we need
to realize that even search keywords and page access information may be utilized
for further recommendations to prospective friends. In other words, our facial photo
tagged with our real name, could be provided to other users.
