Protect the Willfully Ignorant by Lily Huang

Lily Huang author of Protect the Willfully Ignorant states “An increasingly urgent question of privacy or how best to keep your public plot walled in” (474). Most internet users savvy or not, are aware of the potential risks. Most people know the potential risk for permanency and of the pictures or information we put out on social networks or other sites and the content being seen. We have all heard the warnings since grammar school from everyone about the internet and how to use it. Teachers, parents, librarians and school inundate our children all throughout school about information on safe usage. To be aware of predators and such is common knowledge. Why the need for laws to protect childrens’ privacy, and usage against exploitation? Similar reasons to why we wear seatbelts while driving and it is enforced by law. We all want our freedoms not to be infringed but at what cost and to who? We are aware of the statistics and outcomes of auto accidents without seatbelts and the need “to protect the willfully ignorant” (Huang). Lily Huang discussed consumer’s lack of expertise for making the best privacy decisions and how important default privacy settings are on social networks (475).

Alessandro Acquisto a professor at CMU coauthor of the study attributes the results of a recent poll to the notion of rational ignorance in the 70 percent of incorrect answers in regards to face book privacy policies (474). Many people would agree that protecting children is the parents’ responsibility. Let’s be honest though a lot of kids know more than their parents about internet usage so how helpful can the parents be to protect them properly? This is also to assume that parents are doing their job protecting their children properly. A lot of pa...

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... good and safe concise decisions. Censoring laws on the internet now are important to protect kids most; and all others at risk. We need more laws enacted against exploitation and privacy against potential harm while using the internet. We are supposed to protect the weak. Therefore as a whole we can prosper in future generations hand in hand with our technological advancements.

Works Cited

Edmonds, Molly. "Discovery Health "Are teenage brains really different from adult brains?"." HowStuffWorks "Learn how Everything Works!". N.p., 26 Aug. 2008. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. Print

Huang, Lily . "Protect the Willfully Ignorant." Newsweek 24 Mar. 2008: unknown. Print.

Cleaver, Cathleen A. “The Internet: A Clear and Present Danger?” The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. 6th ed. Stephen Reid. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003. 458-463.Print