Over-Exposure in the Digital World: Drawing the Line between our Public and Private Selves

Thursday, October 22, 2009

A job applicant searches the web for information on the person who has called her in for an interview; at the same time the interviewer pulls up the applicant’s Facebook page. Do personal searches of this kind violate the ethics of online behavior? Do they blur the line between one’s public and private lives? Or are they simply a legitimate—and helpful way to enrich a job-related conversation?

Join the Dartmouth community for a discussion of these and other ethical issues wrought by the digital era. “Over-Exposure in the Digital World” a panel discussion hosted jointly by Institute for Security, Technology, and Society (ISTS) and the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P) in recognition of Cyber Security Awareness Month will explore a range of topics related to the separation of our private and public selves online, addressing such vexing questions as: Does an employer have the right to monitor and control its employees’ online activities? Does anonymity alter a person’s online behavior and is that OK? Should any information posted on the Internet be considered private? Do these questions suggest a paradigm shift in human interaction unique to the cyber realm or have we faced similar questions from technologies in the past?

Please join us on October 22 at 4pm in Haldeman 041.

The panel—moderated by Denise Anthony, Chair of the Department of Sociology and Research Director of ISTS—will feature:

• Hans Brechbuhl, Adjunct Associate Professor of Business Administration at Tuck
• James Moor, Daniel P. Stone Professor in Intellectual and Moral Philosophy
• Charles Palmer, Chief Technical Officer of Security and Privacy at IBM and strategic advisor to the I3P
• Mark Williams, Associate Professor of Film and Television Studies