The Perils Of Social Reading Summary

The author of The Perils of Social Reading, Neil Richards, writes about the issues of updating an old privacy act that could interfere with the way we view the world through our reading and watching movies. The VPPA or Video Privacy Protection Act is an old act from 1988 that the House of Representatives wants to update to make it so when a Facebook or Netflix user watches or reads something on the internet, it is automatically posted to your Facebook feed. Richards brings to the attention of the reader the issues with this because many people are self-conscious about what they read and would rather not have people know.

The article brings up the idea that many people search for their place in the world whether it’s politically, sexually, personal values and etc. If everything we read and/or watched was posted for all of our “friends” to see many would no longer search online in fear of embarrassment. The choice of updating this act could have long lasting consequences for our online world that could give sharing a whole new meaning.