This week in Communications, we examined the case of Justine Sacco concerning her controversial Tweets. These Tweets were seen as unnecessary and offensive to certain groups of people, yet she claims it was all a joke and not meant to be taken seriously. However; this joke ended up being the cause of the complete downfall of both her professional and personal life. Cases like Sacco’s bring up the very argued question- Should we, as internet users, have the right to be forgotten? Should our mistakes and embarrassments be able to be permanently deleted from the internet? We interviewed each of our four group members concerning the subject, and here are their responses:

Do you feel that Justine Sacco deserved to lose her job for her Tweets?

Alvin– I think at 30 years of age and a person in such a high position as Justine Sacco, I think you should be very careful about what you says and do especially on the internet. I don’t know what was her intention, and of course, intention is not the same as effect. Whatever Sacco meant, her tweet was gross and offensive and I think she deserved to lose her job because her job had a lot to do with public relationship.

Ali– I feel that tweets similar to Sacco’s are completely inappropriate and are not professional. Everyone should be aware that once they post something on the internet, it is there forever. Though losing her job seems severe, I believe that it was a great awakening for her and others. As simple as it sounds, she should have known better and considered the consequences of her tweets.

Leon– I feel that in general someone should not lose their job for something they may have said prior in their life, but in the case of Justine, her comments affect the way people may look at the company, therefore having her on their team may send the wrong image of what they want their brand to be about. Therefore, I think it is up to the company as what they want to do with employees in cases like this and have no problem which way they choose to go with their decision. But in the case of Justine I feel like she got what she deserved.

Meghan- I feel that although this punishment seems a bit extreme, her employer did not really have the option of keeping her, as the entire internet world had seen her Tweets by this time and caused an uproar. If they didn’t fire her, they knew that they would have faced serious backlash from the general public and ruined their reputation as a company.

Do you believe that what you post on the internet should be permanent?

Alvin- I am kind of in the middle with this, I think that kids under at least 15 years of age should be allowed to permanently delete their post from the internet, but at the same time I think that will make kids even more reckless with the internet, I think we as humans are term to do better with consequence, therefore I’m going to say No!!

Ali- Personally, I believe it depends on the content. If it an embarrassing photo or video, yes. But if it is a post where someone is degrading/insulting others and they are an adult who should know better, why would they worry about deleting it if they made the decision post it?

Leon- I think the idea of permanently deleting something from the internet goes against our idea of freedom of speech. So deleting things from the internet since we live in such a digital age is kind of like deleting history. What if that information posted is important to future generations and can provide knowledge? Then there are some cases such as bullying where I think that posts should be taken down but because it violates certain guidelines set out by the creators of these sites, the case of bullying is one of the only reasons why I could see something being deleted from the internet.

Meghan- I believe that if the content posted was by somebody else with the intention of making you look bad or embarrassing, then yes, it should be able to be deleted. However; if you personally post something, whether or not it may offend someone or unintentionally make yourself look bad, you should be held accountable for that content and face whatever consequences come with it.

What do you think the positives are of the right to be forgotten on the internet?

Alvin– The right to be forgotten can give people who had made mistakes on the internet a change at life. Especially in a country like the United States where people have the right to freedom of speech, people could say many things that they might not have the same view in the future, the right to be forgotten can forgive and forget the passed and leave it in the past.  

Ali- Though there are certain cases that hard to justify, If someone evolves and changes perspectives, I believe that we are able to forgive and forget their past mistakes as they now know and do better. This could help society as a whole in making others aware that it is possible to change from a negative to a positive person if we enable ourselves to forget about their past and move forward.

Leon- People can forget their past mistakes without them having to be constantly reminded of them. Like mentioned in the TED talk earlier this week I think that forgetting allows for forgiveness, therefore by forgetting certain things it will allow grudges to pass and new healthy relationships be built.

Meghan- An important advantage of being able to be forgotten on the internet is that if someone was cyberbullied, they would not have to be constantly reminded of those hurtful comments or relive them every time they logged on to the internet.

What do you think the negatives are of the right to be forgotten on the internet?

Alvin- The lack of transparency surrounding important information about a person and potencial retrain on media, journalist and other freedom of speech.  

Ali- We could potentially fall into a trap as we are unaware of the truth behind someone. If you enforce this right to be forgotten, your denying the internet’s ability to have access to information. It’s a massive shift of a burden and is a cost. It clouds the enforcement of human rights.

Leon- The negatives about the idea of “right to be forgotten” is that it may provide a fake sense of news and information to people. If you are hiring someone for a job and they are able to delete a history that may be controversial, then in essence you are not hiring the person you think you are. Also, deleting certain things may be detrimental to society as a whole because then people may feel free to say or express whatever they want with the knowledge that it can be deleted whenever they choose, making their thought process at certain moments careless or naive.

Meghan- The biggest flaw in the right to be forgotten is that people would no longer have to be held accountable for their words, which may cause the various comment sections of social media to become nastier and crueler than they already seem to be. Especially for important public figures who hold positions of power in the world, it is important that the public can have access to their past before supporting them.

While we all had varied responses and ideas about the concept of “The Right to be Forgotten”, it is important to see that there are always two (or more!) sides to every story. Like most issues we have studied so far in our Ethics of Media course, there are no clear black or white decisions that can be determined; only a ton of controversial, imperfect gray area.