Stalking and Discrimination

Code and regulations have other side effects as represented in the prevalent problem of stalking on Facebook. The article specifically regards the “stalking” from company representatives, in search of new potential employees. The employers of the companies attribute the motivation for using Facebook to its vast population within the social media. They are also able to search for specific aspect of their careers, which serves to be more helpful in determining the candidates for the company. Furthermore, as reflected by the interactions with others on Facebook, the employers are able to assess the candidates’ personalities at hand according to their online activities. However, such function to find people by specific aspects also raised worries of discriminative predilections as well. Given that most personal information is included as a profile including ethnicity, religion, gender, and more, the employers are also able to categorize people by the qualities that do not define their capabilities to work. However, the article also states that such discrimination is possible but cannot be proved with an example of occurrence, as process through which employers choose is typically not disclosed to the general crowd.

The topic this article regards seems highly synonymous with the problem raised with the “Ghetto Tracker.” Ghetto Tracker is an application that marks and alerts the users of the places that are considered dangerous and provide a simple traveling advices. However, as the name suggests, the application can be referring to stereotypes specifically regarding the prevalent ethnicity in the population. Ghetto Tracker was criticized of its racist implication and the possibility to be distancing people from certain regions and the group within, due to biases and motivations that are present behind the scene.

While both applications may be extremely useful in an utilitarian sense, the abuses people can commit to further supports the crucial role and further need to implement regulations on every part of the Internet. It can be said that there is a natural consensus that ethnicity and education level does not corresponds with who the person truly is, and thus racism is completely invalid. However, the problems raised by the stalking incident on Facebook and the implications behind the name “Ghetto Tracker” shows that motivation is not enough to prevent people from committing problematic activities. Code and regulations in Internet and social media platforms may be better that laws by differentiating themselves, serving as a motivation and not a punishment. Nevertheless, the need to implement stricter code and possibly enhancing through adding a punishment feature to them may be a better way to solve the problem.

Works Cited:

The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2016. <http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/the-real-problem-with-a-service-called-ghetto-tracker/279403/>.

Jessy Edwards 31 August 2016. “How Recruiters Are Stalking You on Facebook.” BBC — Capital. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20160831-how-recruiters-are-stalking-you-on-facebook>.