FACEBOOK: Expression and Oppression

Facebook: we all use it and are used to it. It has become matter of fact for most of us to share our information and photos on the site with our friends and we think nothing of it. In fact, we all speak the lingo: “Write on my wall”, “comment on my post”, “like it” etc. and this just goes to show how the social network has permeated our internet existences.
So it boils down to this – basically if you are internet savvy, chances are you are on Facebook.  And why not? The site has revolutionized interaction on the web. Ten years ago it was hardly imaginable that one could share videos, writing and thoughts in a web forum and garner such feedback. And Facebook hasn’t only benefited individual expression but helped uncountable businesses advertise.  On the political front, with its groups open and available to anyone around the globe, it has enabled congruence for social and political campaigns and allowed ordinary citizens to take political action. The Jessica Lal case and Delhi’s subsequent India Gate vigils are a case in point.
Facebook has facilitated debate and discussion worldwide. But at what expense?

Recent planned policy changes at Facebook will allow personal data to be passed on to third parties without users’ consent. Each user will have to select an opt-out function, that is, if they are publicly made aware on the site that such a change has occurred.  If not, every one of the four hundred million users may just have to figure it out. While their very personal information is being handed out for commercialism.
We have, perhaps, all thought of personal breach at our inception into Facebook. We have questioned to what extent our own lives should be divulged into the public sphere. We have all formed our own ideas of balance and share information accordingly. But it is likely that unless each one of us diligently monitor our privacy and accounts our private matters will be up for public display.
Facebook has come under much criticism from the German government for this exact reason and has been pressed to revise its privacy policy so users are explicitly informed of their information being distributed. As opposed to Facebook’s earlier plan that all users will be silently implicated in personal disclosing.
So while we may enjoy sharing on the site, do we really want to bare our individual expression to a stranger for examination? When does freedom of expression become freedom of oppression? It is this very debate, at a large scale, that rages on in Pakistan.
Facebook and other social networking sites have been banned in the country by Pakistani authorities following the creation of the Facebook page ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day’.  The news, at first seemed blasphemous for expression.  People are being denied access to certain sites and a plentitude of information all riding on one concept and group.
Then, of course, I visited the page. I was shocked, to say the least, at the juvenile derision of the prophet and the Islamic faith. Posts and pictures were outrageously disrespectful and there was none of the imagination and artistry we might hope for after reading the group’s name.  Images were crude and crass and if they communicated any concept at all, it was anti the prophet and anti-Islam.
A few days ago Mumbaiker Muslims expressed their discontent over the same page.  Consequently, the Maharashtra state home department wrote to Union home secretary G K Pillai seeking a ban on the webpage throughout the state.
The debate had hit home. Now it has flickered in the nation. It poses us with questions.
Should an open social networking site be managed and controlled to screen blasphemous content that hurls contempt at a religion? If there is any monitoring of the website, where would it end? If pages and groups are being examined, doesn’t it follow that profiles be checked too? Is privacy breaching of this nature acceptable – be it for censorship or commercialism? Will it not, at the very least, restrict what we post and eventually nullify the whole concept of Facebook’s interactivity and sharing?
The problem with censorship of any kind is that it can know no limits. It is at the discretion, or lack thereof, of the person or board of censorship and individual users’ will lose authorial authority. To share, view, write and read whatever you want, whenever you want is the entire concept of Facebook, the reason it has become such a catching, communicable development. This cannot be taken away.
These controversies, involving curbing the written or spoken word for public-ation, have been raging since time immemorial and will continue to do so with freedom of expression.
We face being capitalized upon, insulted or discriminated against. It is merely the price we have to pay.
So go out there and share what you want. It is your prerogative.