Social Media Tools Can Sometimes Be Used the Wrong Way

        Social media tools like Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, LInkedIn and Twitter are the rave these days. These tools can do great things for starting out and creating business. These tools can be used in the wrong way as well.  The laws in different countries are being harmonized with each other through treaties ratified and signed into law. Many people don’t stop to think about what is happening. The laws are catching up to technology. Every person’s words online are being monitored by governments and law enforcement agencies around the world. Many people think that they have nothing to hide or get too smug thinking that they will never get caught if they live in another country. Most of all, this is changing, as well.

              
  Revelations since Edward Snowden have revealed how far advanced the technology has come. Keyword searches used by marketers for marketing purposes to sell products and services, they are now being use by governments to bring causes of action in criminal and civil matters. It is happening more and more. Most people don’t think about it. It is happening because the ratification of treaties with other countries to harmonized each other’s laws because of technology. Lastly, the laws are catching up to technology

         Technologies like Bitcoin are going through the process of being submitted to the regulatory practices to deal with things like international drug smuggling and weapons smuggling. This is happening. Many Bitcoiners hate the idea of the governments in different countries interfering with Bitcoin. But, they forget that even currencies that are digital can be used in much the same way as regular paper money to go out and commit crimes. This is happening. Much of the commerce has not anything to do with crimes, there is always a small group who do use it for purposes that are criminal in nature that are recognized in most legal systems around the world. As technologies advance, the laws will catch up to the technologies out there.

        There are people who go online that may use the social media tools for the right reasons. However, there are people who will use the tools for the wrong reasons. We have seen this where politicians post their dirty laundry online. It comes out into the open. People go online bullying people into doing things like emptying the bank accounts through extortion. Email scams involving scam about money are still taking place.  Most of all, we can see many examples of this online.

        The best example of mild form of cyber bulling is people can engage in ad hominem attacks online such attacking the creditability of a person online by suggesting because poor grammatical skills that they are not authoritative on a topic. When in fact, they may have extensive knowledge and experience about the topic, poor grammar does not mean they are not expert on topic. It just means their poor grammar that needs to be worked on. This is a common fallacy that I see a lot online. Language is the means to communicate with each other. There are books out there to help avoid using logical fallacies in oral communication and written communication. Because using these types of fallacies can be a form of cyber bullying.  They are used to intimidate. Lastly, in business communication, the best thing is not to engage in any kind of logical fallacy because using a fallacy can hurt the creditability in gaining customers and business partnerships.

         When cyber bulling comes into play, a cause of action can be brought forth with evidence online of what was said. Log files and database records of what is said can be acquired through a judge’s order in most legal jurisdictions around the globe. This can be used as evidence in any kind of action. In civil actions, we can see this is happening where one party said one thing against another party where a judgment was issued against the party that caused the problem. People can no longer give the proverbial middle finger to the legal system because the laws are changing with the times. We may find ourselves living in the “Minority Report” type of world soon because of use social media tools. With the goodness of the tools, it comes with the other side where bad things can come.  We have seen examples of this online where people post pictures and videos online talking about the harm they will cause. These people even gloat and brag about it. Lastly, no longer can these actions be ignored.

The other side of the coin is that these technologies can used to silent voices or opinions that are different. We can see this with companies and groups that want to silent whistleblowers that they have information about a company or group engaging in activities that can shed light the happening within. There are people within these entities who do not want this information to get out. The companies or groups online can be engaging in activities that could be causes of action later on down the track. It has happened. Lastly, this sheds light on how social media tools can be used in the wrong way.

With all the tools out there already, the common denominator has not change our interacting online show what kind people we are. There will be tools coming out in the future that could replace the Facebook, Twitter, and others. These will have features that will be the rave. But, with the rave with social media tools comes the responsibility watching what is said online because it can be used in ways legally not thought of before.

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