Online SurveillanceThe negative consequences of online surveillance are constant media headlines warning users to be careful with their sensitive information. This research addresses both positive and negative perspectives of online surveillance. Based on Lee Humphreys’ article “Who’s Watching Who?” A Study of Interactive Technology and Surveillance,” a year-long experiment explored how people think about privacy and surveillance when using mobile social networks (Humphreys 2011, 575). By examining Google's Dodgeball, a mobile service like Foursquare that allowed users to provide their location information to others, they found that "most informants were not concerned about privacy when using the social network mobile because they felt they had control over their personal data.” information” (Humphreys 2011, 576, 578). Researchers concluded that there are three types of surveillance in today's social media era: voluntary panopticon, lateral surveillance, and self-surveillance (Humphreys 2011, 577). This study delves deeply into understanding modern privacy by focusing on the growing presence of social media. access cell phones (Humphreys 2011, 576). “In the United States, more than 302 million people have mobile phone subscriptions” and it is predicted that by 2020, most people in the world will have access to the mobile Internet (Humphreys 2011, 575). This has raised questions regarding social media's expectations, norms, and conceptions of privacy and surveillance when disseminating personal and location information (Humphreys 2011, 577). “Privacy has been defined as the ability to control what information about a person is accessible to others. When we cannot control what information about ourselves others know, we can...... middle of paper ......(1), 1-30.Humphreys, L. "Who's Watching Who? A study of interactive technology and surveillance." Journal of Communication 61 (2011): 575-595. Print.Kanter, M., Afifi, T. and Robbins, S. (2012), “The impact of parents “friending” their young adults on Facebook on perceptions of parental privacy violations and quality of the parent-child relationship. Journal of Communication, 62: 900-917. Print.Kaveri S. and Greenfield P. “Online communication and adolescent relationships.” Journal of Communication 18.1 (2009): 119-146. Print. Trottier, D. (2012). Interpersonal surveillance on social networks. Canadian Journal of Communication, 37(2), 319-332. Youmans, WL and York JC “Social Media and the Activist Toolkit: User Agreements, Corporate Interests, and the Information Infrastructure of Modern Social Movements” . Journal of Communication 62.2 (2012): 315-329. Print.