Unavoidable Ethical Questions About Social Networking
These questions follow the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
"Framework
for Ethical Decision Making," available on line.
From a Utilitarian Perspective
The recent hacking of Petaluma High School student MySpace accounts
and the posting of threatening messages highlight some possible
harms of social networking. MySpace, FaceBook, and other sites
have been the scene of cyberbullying and online predation. But
the same technology allows people to connect with others they
might never have met and form meaningful relationships. How
do we balance these harms and benefits, reducing the one and
increasing the possibility of the other?
From a Rights Perspective
Do social networkers have a right to privacy? More and more
users of Facebook and MySpace are finding that prospective employers
are perusing their sites, despite the fact that they may conceive
of their online presence as personal space. Also, what is a
private person’s right to control the images and information
about them available on line? David Weisbrot, president of the
Australia Law Reform Commission, which has been investigating
online privacy, comments, “Laws designed to protect privacy
in the outside world struggle to cope with the issues raised
by online communities. For example, online publication of photo-graphs,
which may be sensitive and revealing, raises new challenges
in relation to consent.”
From a Fairness Perspective
Some people believe social networking sites offer the ultimate
in egalitarianism. When we interact with others online, we have
no real way of knowing whether they are white or black, male
or female, fat or thin, young or old. Will this disembodied
quality of the online world lead to greater fairness, or will
we lose the ability to engage concretely with others, and therefore
truly overcome differences?
From a Common Good Perspective
Pope Paul IV described the common good as “the sum of those
conditions of social life which allow social groups and their
individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their
own fulfillment.” Certainly, many people turn to social
networking sites to connect with social groups that share their
interests and values. What would the common good look like in
this context? Does fulfillment have the same meaning online
as it does in the “real world?” Are there ways to
structure online communities so that they better promote the
common good of their members?
From a Virtue Perspective
Many of the interpersonal virtues we value evolved in the
context of face-to-face communication. Honesty, openness, and
patience, for example, are honed in the negotiations we must
manage when we meet people in person. What impact will digital
media have on these virtues? What, for example, would honesty
mean in the context of a world where people are represented
by avatars? Will other virtues emerge as more important in social
networking, where we can be constantly connected to a large
reservoir of others and can shut off communications easily when
we are bored or encounter difficulties?
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