The Founding Fathers who drafted the U.S. Constitution protected important rights—from the right to privacy to the right to a fair trial. But now, online social networks are creating an entirely new set of questions and challenges regarding our individual rights. Colleges and employers routinely reject applicants because of publicly available information and photos found on social networking sites. Jurors post details on a case and ask their friends to vote on whether the defendant should go to jail. Marketing companies are facing lawsuits for allegedly collecting information about citizens based on our travels on the Web, without our knowledge or consent. Lori Andrews, author of the new book I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy; Forbes blogger Kashmir Hill; and New York Times reporter Jennifer Preston join the Center to speak about how the Founding Fathers might have handled online social networks. What would happen if social networking sites were subject to the Bill of Rights? With 750,000,000 members, Facebook is the third largest nation in the world. Should it have a Constitution? If so, what rights and responsibilities should be included? Christopher Wink, co-founder of Technically Philly, moderates this discussion.
Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, 6:30 p.m.
$10 non-members
$7 members, students and teachers
FREE for 1787 members
F.M. Kirby Auditorium
National Constitution Center
Independence Mall
525 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA