The popular app Instagram has been around for almost seven years and hosts millions of users, but not everyone uses it in the same way. Upon first glance, it is simply a platform to share pictures and videos with less emphasis on text-based posts than Facebook, but it has a darker side only few know. Regular, real accounts are referred to as "rinstas", while private, fake accounts are called "finstas". The difference between the two reveals something interesting about privacy.
Finstas are private accounts that "represent literally all of the user’s behind-the-scenes personality: both the positive and the negative." (Odyssey). Many people use them to post pictures of them participating in something illegal, but because they only allow certain people to follow them, they think it is safe to post. In Instagram's Terms of Use, it states "You may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content via the Service," so most of these accounts are violating Instagram's terms. Later, the terms state, "You are solely responsible for your conduct and any data, text, files, information, usernames, images, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, links and other content or materials (collectively, "Content") that you submit, post or display on or via the Service." Instagram is basically saying whatever you post is your responsibility, no matter what. Their privacy policy also explains that what you post is your responsibility, "By using our Service you understand and agree that we are providing a platform for you to post content, including photos, comments and other materials ("User Content"), to the Service and to share User Content publicly. This means that other Users may search for, see, use, or share any of your User Content that you make publicly available through the Service."
What I find interesting/confusing is what happens if someone that is allowed to follow a finsta account shares it with other people that are not, such as sharing a screenshot of a post. Our book talks about disclosure of a private matter and that three conditions must be met, the first being "the plaintiff must show that the defendant was the person who publicized the matter and communicated it 'to the world at large'" (Tedford and Herbeck 117). The person posting the illegal picture is sharing it to a selecitve public, but does this count as publicizing the matter? Instagram's policies state that you are responsible for your posts, so should another person that shared it outside of the designated audience be to blame? Are they guilty because they are sharing it to "the world at large" or did the person who posted it already do that?
I don't have an answer to these questions because I think it is dependent on the situation, but it shows that the internet creates a huge grey area for privacy policies. Is anything we post ever private even if we have private accounts?
Sources:
“Instagram Help Center.” Privacy Policy | Instagram Help Center, Instagram, 19 Jan. 2013, help.instagram.com/155833707900388/?helpref=hc_fnav.
“Instagram Help Center.” Terms of Use | Instagram Help Center, Instagram, 19 Jan. 2013, help.instagram.com/155833707900388/?helpref=hc_fnav.
Jansen, Ties. “Is Having A 'Finsta' A Voluntary End To Your Privacy?” The Odyssey Online, 30 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/is-having-finsta-voluntary-end-to-privacy.
Tedford, Thomas L., and Dale A. Herbeck. Freedom of Speech in the United States. 8th ed. Strata Publishing, INC., 2017.
Finstas are private accounts that "represent literally all of the user’s behind-the-scenes personality: both the positive and the negative." (Odyssey). Many people use them to post pictures of them participating in something illegal, but because they only allow certain people to follow them, they think it is safe to post. In Instagram's Terms of Use, it states "You may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content via the Service," so most of these accounts are violating Instagram's terms. Later, the terms state, "You are solely responsible for your conduct and any data, text, files, information, usernames, images, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, links and other content or materials (collectively, "Content") that you submit, post or display on or via the Service." Instagram is basically saying whatever you post is your responsibility, no matter what. Their privacy policy also explains that what you post is your responsibility, "By using our Service you understand and agree that we are providing a platform for you to post content, including photos, comments and other materials ("User Content"), to the Service and to share User Content publicly. This means that other Users may search for, see, use, or share any of your User Content that you make publicly available through the Service."
What I find interesting/confusing is what happens if someone that is allowed to follow a finsta account shares it with other people that are not, such as sharing a screenshot of a post. Our book talks about disclosure of a private matter and that three conditions must be met, the first being "the plaintiff must show that the defendant was the person who publicized the matter and communicated it 'to the world at large'" (Tedford and Herbeck 117). The person posting the illegal picture is sharing it to a selecitve public, but does this count as publicizing the matter? Instagram's policies state that you are responsible for your posts, so should another person that shared it outside of the designated audience be to blame? Are they guilty because they are sharing it to "the world at large" or did the person who posted it already do that?
I don't have an answer to these questions because I think it is dependent on the situation, but it shows that the internet creates a huge grey area for privacy policies. Is anything we post ever private even if we have private accounts?
Sources:
“Instagram Help Center.” Privacy Policy | Instagram Help Center, Instagram, 19 Jan. 2013, help.instagram.com/155833707900388/?helpref=hc_fnav.
“Instagram Help Center.” Terms of Use | Instagram Help Center, Instagram, 19 Jan. 2013, help.instagram.com/155833707900388/?helpref=hc_fnav.
Jansen, Ties. “Is Having A 'Finsta' A Voluntary End To Your Privacy?” The Odyssey Online, 30 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/is-having-finsta-voluntary-end-to-privacy.
Tedford, Thomas L., and Dale A. Herbeck. Freedom of Speech in the United States. 8th ed. Strata Publishing, INC., 2017.
I believe that when we post anything on the internet, especially a social media website, we no longer have an expectation of privacy. Regardless of if you filter who you allow to "follow" or "friend you. The people with access to that content can decide to distribute the content how they please and you have no control/knowledge to how people might react. I that I feel that to a certain degree - publishing something online should be regarded as if you were to publish something in your local newspaper.
ReplyDeleteBecause the internet is something we use daily and are comfortable with we often forget how public it really is. Often when we access the internet it is in the privacy of our own home or in an area where you do feel a false of privacy in relation to the content we are posting/interacting with. If a user shares a post on the website they are 100% accountable for any repercussions that might follow the post.
As you discussed, people use these private accounts to post content that may violate Instagram's policy. I believe that Instagram does not actively review the content that is posted on the site to check for posts that violate its policies. Which is why the use of finstas continue. If an image is reported Instagram will then look into it - but not until the image is reported is it brought to the attention of the company.
Overall I found your posting really interesting because "finsta's" are gaining such popularity and you really raised some tough questions to think about regarding our expectation of privacy on the internet.
I believe that this is so interesting because if we take the scenario that you used in your example then how would we define the "world at large"? I believe that if they were to repost and tag the account it was linked to then it would be something to look into, but I believe that when it comes to privacy laws, I do not think that we have affectively made it applicable to social media, because of how complex it would be. Take Twitter for example, how many retweets would it take for someone to breach privacy, or better yet say someone screenshots a private tweet then posts the picture for everyone to see, how many retweets would it take for it to be considered the world at large? 5K?10K? I think that when laws try to get mixed in with social media that it is difficult, because the laws just haven't caught up to the technology that we have today.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the internet, policies are set clearly by the website in which one decides to post under. When we talked about the differences between what is considered public and what is considered as private, social media fell somewhere in between. There is some sense of privacy, but technically we are under the "roof", for example, Instagram. Everything posted on Instagram portals, do in some way belong to Instagram. In regards to being a private page, and having someone who follows you post your content on their public page, I would say could out that person in jeopardy of being under violation under some privacy laws judicially. According to Warren and Brandeis, privacy is the right to be let alone. When you post pictures, articles, videos, etc. on sites like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, you gave up the right to privatize any content. It can be found by anyone that looks in the right places on the internet. Not to mention the website owners included. If it were that you happen to code your own website, and have everything copyrighted to you, another party could not take your information without your consent if they do not want to suffer the consequences of Privacy Laws. So really posting under private pretenses on social media, is just the same as one posting under a public one.
ReplyDelete