The Internet’s basic functioning systems and activities experienced on social media unveil the existing paradox between the interest in the disclosure of the self and the protection of personal information. The use of social media entails the controversial co-habitation of both, guiding users towards the passive acceptance of this condition. The functioning systems of Internet services are based on the observation, collection and management of users’ data and metadata, demonstrating that users’ presence online might go beyond their direct control. In this context, users’ understanding of Internet surveillance translates into the normalisation of the violation of personal privacy in order to access online services. Despite the general awareness of the potential risks, those people who want to use the Internet services try to compensate this condition of visibility by managing the information they share online, giving the feeling of a sense of control over privacy.
Although in the digital age the concept of privacy is difficult to classify due to the overlap between online and environments, it can be defined as the ‘demand of private space [that] derives from the romantic notion of only being able to be oneself, by oneself’. Privacy’s significance and implications are largely discussed in media studies where it is argued that Internet services and social media platforms make the notions of private life and personal space no longer applicable, suggesting a reevaluation of current understandings of privacy and surveillance. Considering these aspects, this chapter discusses Instagram users’ understanding of privacy and surveillance issues on the platform and how it changes the way they approach the practice of photosharing online as well as the type of visual content they are willing to share and/or protect.
On social media, the traditional notion of privacy shifts into an unclear setting where continuous technological advancements are linked with the evolution of legal theories of privacy. At a general level, there are four categories that defend people from privacy violations: the freedom of personal autonomy, the right to control personal information, the right to control personal property and the right to protect personal physical space. Despite the legal acknowledgement that there should be a fair expectation of privacy, Mills’ understanding of today’s intrusive world suggests that privacy is no more a right, but a commodity entangled in trade relations.
The awareness that personal information is exchanged to get access to Internet services makes social media users follow the principle of self-violation of privacy (Menduni et al., 2011) through which they voluntarily provide personal data. People using social media platforms, in spite of the common suggestion to avoid disseminating personal information, are involved in a collective self-violation. They show themselves through their daily lives, presenting private data, addresses and contact details on social media that become, in this way, the public extension of private spaces, producing the virtualisation of fields that previously were extremely concrete and separate. Because online platforms encourage online activities (e.g. liking, sharing, posting, following, etc.), people’s presence on social media has consequently become more difficult to regulate, in particular in relation to moral and ethical issues associated to the way users’ information should be processed, who should have access to data and how this access should be regulated.
The Laughingstock of Qajars
