In today’s technologically advanced world privacy has become harder and harder to obtain. With every passing day and with every new advancement in technology our privacy has been traded for a more convenient life. Most of these changes to the amount of privacy we have are dependent on us as individuals.
Of course, these changes can be easily seen when we accept the terms and conditions without reading it. But as you and I both know, no one reads the terms and conditions.
Recently, a large uproar was caused when reports of Facebook’s apparent invasion of privacy hit the web. Facebook was accused of selling its user’s information to third party companies.
While I’m not going to delve too deeply in that story, I will say as a nation we are quick to attack any controversy that is a threat to our privacy.
The people of this great nation deserve to be outraged by the fact that we are being spied on and that our private information is being used without our expressed permission. Yes we should be upset. Every person in this country should stand up and protest before we reach the absolute annihilation of our privacy.
This is a rallying cry that the majority of the citizens of the United States should stand behind—we have a right to protect our private information.
Yet, a particular group of citizens, not just in this nation, but also in the world have lost any semblance of a private life. They are most commonly referred to as “celebrities.”
It’s as if when one gains any fame, they unsubscribe from any privacy. There are suddenly cameras watching your every move. Millions upon millions of eyes criticizing every decision you make, and if you mess up, these millions of people will burn you and then cleanse their palettes of your fame.
People in general love two things about celebrities: watching the celebrities rise or “make it” or watching them fall from grace. When a celebrity does anything bad we watch them extensively. As an example, in 2009 when Michael Phelps was stripped of his Kellogg sponsorship as well as his monetary sponsorship from the national governing body of swimmers all because a photo of him smoking marijuana was leaked to the press. A moment in his own private life was sold to the media and it damaged his reputation. [pullquote]This is a rallying cry that the majority of the citizens of the United States should stand behind[/pullquote]
While Phelps did get the short end of the privacy stick, he’s not the only celebrity who this has happened to. A few weeks ago a cloud service was hacked by unknown individuals. Nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Victoria Justice, Hope Solo, Kate Upton, and others were leaked for the entire world to view. Yet with my own experience people didn’t attack the people that leaked these photos, but instead, people attacked the celebs themselves.
It’s as if with celebrities we simply say “If you didn’t want people to see those pictures you shouldn’t have taken them in the first place.” In my honest opinion that’s not fair at all. Just because they have fame doesn’t make them any less deserving of privacy as someone like me.
I can already see an argument forming against me. “Oh if you’re a celebrity you are held on a higher pedestal. You need to be a role model.”
No, I will not accept that as a viable argument anymore. We must come together as a society and agree that just because you’re a celebrity doesn’t mean you can’t be young, stupid and naive. Young people make mistakes. People make mistakes. All of the people reading this article or those criticizing celebs for wanting their own privacy must realize that we all have a certain expectation of privacy in our lives. Once we all accept this, then and only then, can we legitimately take our privacy back.
