Regulation and Ethics online

The term ‘Web 2.0’ refers to ‘The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the movement away from static web pages to dynamic and shareable content and social networking.’(http://en.wiktionary.org)

We are a world away from using the web solely for informational purposes. Web 2.0 is the start and end of everything. Ever been cut off for a few hours? It’s shameful to admit that it does impact your life a lot more than you’d like to believe.

With online being such a prominent source in our lives it makes sense that the same sort of ethical behaviour and expectations apply to it as in everything else in our lives. This however, is not the case. The majority of online material has only been included in CAP and ASA regulation in the last month. (http://www.asa.org.uk/Regulation-Explained/Online-remit.aspx) So, for a good 10 years when the internet has been popular it has been extremely difficult for anyone to have a complaint upheld or dealt with.

Twitter has come under scrutiny recently with certain companies using it as a portal for marketing through exploiting natural disasters. Microsoft was slated for using the tragedy in Japan to gain retweets….

“How you can #SupportJapan - http://binged.it/fEh7iT. For every retweet, @bing will give $1 to Japan quake victims, up to $100K.

Try Bing. A new way to search, explore, & decide”

After much anger and criticism, they apologised and donated a generous sum to Japan. Although hastily dealt with; this example goes to show how digital communications can be used badly in an effort to portray CSR, but just achieve the opposite effect. In this day in age, where everyone sees everything at the click of a button and can voice an opinion so quickly, it is dangerous to be so obviously ‘markety’ surrounding a disaster.

“We apologize the tweet was negatively perceived. Intent was to provide an easy way for people to help Japan. We have donated $100K.”

“Let's face it, any public statement made by a brand about something good it did is self-serving. Get over it. John D. Rockefeller once said "Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing." Good advice for any brand I'd say. There is nothing wrong with letting people know you are helping a good cause. But how a brand goes about this is very important.” (http://www.brandrants.com/2011/03/dont-forget-the-tact-in-your-online-fundraising-tactics.html)

Dataveilance is  ‘the systematic surveillance of all the electronic records of a person's activities, especially the usage of credit cards, mobile phones, email and the Internet’ (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dataveillance) and is an example of how privacy and ethics can be compromised online.

If you’ve ever tried ‘googling’ yourself, you most likely will have come across information you didn’t know was public; like your mobile number, email address, even wall posts you’ve written to people who aren’t vigilant with their privacy settings on Facebook.


 It is unnerving to know anyone can see this sort of thing and I believe; ethically wrong. There are strict rules regarding privacy in other areas of our lives so it seems fair that these should be extended to our increasingly digital lifestyles.