Social Networking: Socio-Legal Issues and Challenges

The popularity of social networking sites has increased dramatically over the past decade. A recent report indicated that thirty-eight percent of online users have a social networking profile. Many of these social networking site users (SNS users) post or provide personal information over the internet every day. As social networking technology has raced forward, it has left corresponding legislation in the dust. Although several countries have enacted various laws governing personal data protection to address this growing problem, these data protection laws have remained sorely inadequate to protect personal information in the social networking environment. Society is now facing an important question: what level of privacy should be expected and required within the social networking environment?