E-mailing can be a way to mask one’s identity. Through e-mailing, one can act completely differently from how they would act towards someone face to face. However, e-mail destroys the privacy of two people interacting online because the recipient of the e-mail now owns the power to allow anyone to view the other person’s messages.
Recently reported in a New York Times article, New York Congressman Resigns Over E-mail, Representative Christopher Lee of New York was shown acting very unlike a congressman when pictures he sent of himself surfaced into the public’s viewing. Lee sent a shirtless photograph of himself to a woman he met online through Craigslist. Along with the half naked photo of himself, Lee also lied to the woman about his age and profession. Once this scandalous news leaked to the public, Lee resigned from his position as congressman.
One would think that after reading articles about celebrities like Vanessa Hudgens and Lindsay Lohan, getting caught sending scandalous photographs of themselves, a man like lee would be discouraged from trying it themselves. E-mail should not be treated as an escape to do something that one would not do in real life because that e-mail can become reality, which could cost someone his career. Once one sends an e-mail, the e-mail is freed into cyber world, where anyone has the potential of seeing it. E-mail is a dangerous device to use for personal information. The bottom line is to refrain from using e-mail to send scandalous photographs of oneself.
1 comment:
Very good advice. At times it is easy to buy into the fact that anything posted online is private. It is sad to note that this Congressman's career is over, but it does teach us an important lesson about online privacy.
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